The Darkest Hour
by Elsian
Summary: 'It was always going to be like this. It was inevitable, because Erik had sworn to protect the city, and this Jester had sworn to break it.' XMFC/Batman AU.
1. Chapter 1

Erik stretched wearily as he removed himself from his bike, wincing slightly as his back clicked from the prolonged sitting position he had maintained through the night. His patrol had been quiet, particularly for a night in Gotham City. Crime in the city had taken a drop in the year since he had returned from his travels and training, using his particular gifts to aid the city in a way that he saw fitting, outside of the law. Petty theft, muggings and street crime still occurred, Erik was not fool enough to believe he could ever entirely free the city of violent crime, but it had certainly lightened considerably in his time as The Batman.

The Batman would take care of the streets, and Erik Lehnsherr, Billionaire entrepreneur could work on the white-collar.

Logan came strolling through the doors of the base, newspaper in hand, as he was placing its cowl back upon its mantel, fingers caressing the exterior of the facial mask automatically to ensure there was no damage to the metal lining, although he knew for a fact that none of the two-bit criminals that he had taken care of during the night had gotten within two feet of him before they were neutralised. The cowl was one of his primary defences however, and it was habit now to ascertain that it was still completely sound, even the smallest nick could mean disaster.

Particularly if She was involved.

The acrid stench of Logan's cigars filled his senses and he turned to scowl at the man, who had taken Erik's seat at his desk of computers, feet propped up upon the desk.

"I have told you not to smoke those down here. Or in my house. Or anywhere else that is to be considered my property." He threw his keys, utilising his powers to make sure they hit Logan's boots at the right angle to leave a scratch in the black leather. Logan swore and removed his feet from the desk.

"Dammit Lehnsherr, these are my favourite pair!" Logan bent down to inspect the marked leather.

"Your favourite pair out of the three identical pairs of boots that you own." Erik scoffed, leaning over him to check the monitors.

"Have you had anything interesting happen whilst I was out?" he asked, bringing up a few web pages holding the latest news stories. There didn't appear to be anything of interest for him on them, but he skimmed over them quickly anyway. Just a few stories of minor burglaries, some Scientific prize winner from Gotham and the approaching mayoral campaign.

"Dunno. Didn't look." Logan said absently, still absorbed in the damage to his much-loved footwear.

"Honestly Logan. Why do I even keep you around?" Erik sighed, straightening.

"Because I promised your parents I'd watch over you and I live here, so even if you do fire me, good luck getting me out of this fucking house." He tapped a finger against the newspaper he had brought down with him. "I am also pretty damn useful sometimes, and I can cook casserole like nobodies god-damn business."

It was true, Logan's casserole was ridiculously good, Erik had to give him that. He glanced at the paper, pinching his glabella and closing his eyes.

"Is it me or Him?" he asked, although he likely knew the answer, which Logan shortly confirmed.

"Him. It's nearly always him, except when you do something monumentally stupid at charity balls, which you haven't for a while, congratu-fucking-lations. He's a menace to society now, Chief of Police is calling for his arrest. The Commissioner has been backing him as always, but ultimately it ain't her call." Logan leant back in the seat, resting one arm on the desk and the other on his hip.

"What you plan to do?"

"There is very little I can do, except make sure I don't get caught." He rested his palms briefly upon the desk, before pushing back with another sigh.

"I'm going to bed. Try not to break anything Logan." he said as he turned to leave.

Logan snorted. "I'm simply going to take advantage of the high-speed internet down here thanks."

"You're disgusting." Erik called back as he walked through the door. He smirked as he managed to catch Logan's reply.

"Ain't that the truth!"

"BREAKFAST SWEETHEART"

Logan's gruff voice could be heard through the heavy door of the master bedroom where Erik slept, jolting him from his sleep quite expertly. The vigorous banging upon the door was not needed, but he expected that Logan was entirely aware of this. He rolled over to check his alarm clock, rubbing wearily at his eyes.

AM. Exactly.

"Logan what the fuck are you thinking? I didn't go to sleep until 4 AM!" He shouted, voice coarse from sleep. He groaned as Logan barrelled through the door with no regard for Erik's state of undress.

"You have a schedule to keep, _Mister Lehnsherr, _and I won't have it being said that I am a poor housekeeper." Logan said, smirking as Erik covered his eyes with one arm when Logan threw the heavy curtains back from the oversized window.

"You are not a poor housekeeper." Erik mumbled "You are a horrendous housekeeper."

"Oh you cut me deep." Logan dead panned. "Now get your ass up, breakfast is ready."

"Putting a box of cereal on a table doesn't count as breakfast Logan. And don't say you made toast, because you don't make toast. You incinerate bread." Erik forced himself to sit up, swinging his legs out to land on the floor.

"You shouldn't be so particular. There are kids starving in Africa you know bub." Logan leant against the door as Erik moved around to get dressed. Ten years ago he might have had something to say about Logan's vigil over his morning ablutions, but now he tended to abide it, knowing it was simply Logan's protective, only slightly disturbing way.

"Send it to them then." Erik replied as he pulled a turtle-neck over his head. "I guarantee they will send it back for something less burned too."

"For someone who is supposedly well-bred, you are rather snide Lehnsherr." Logan said as they left the room for the kitchen, where Erik often took his meals unless he was entertaining, which only tended to happen when the planets were correctly aligned.

"I learnt from the best Logan." Erik poured himself a black coffee from the maker, wincing when he tasted it, slightly lukewarm from where it had been sat for too long on the counter top. He sat down at the breakfast bar, barely moving his toast in time when Logan threw his mail down in front of him, along with the day's newspaper. He frowned at the other man, who resolutely ignored him in favour of the box of lucky charms he'd put out on the counter and so Erik set about opening his mail.

"Anythin' interesting there?" Logan spat through a mouthful of marshmallow and sugar. Erik grimaced, leaning away from the other man.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Bills,a new pizza place has opened up and an invite to some ceremony for a geneticist who discovered blue bees or something. One of those charity balls that I never go to I imagine." Erik said, throwing the opened mail aside, and Logan reached out for the invite.

"Blue bees? That sounds pretty damn awesome." Logan said, grinning.

"It's not really blue bees Logan. I was being facetious. It doesn't actually say what he's done, it's just a celebration of his work. Another old biddy who probably should stay out of the lab before he hurts himself and ends up with lizard features or something." Erik opened the paper, doing his best to avoid the society pages, having little patience for those who were supposedly of his 'ilk'. He noticed briefly that the Commissioner was being commended for recent actions taken against petty theft. A small part of him was irritated, since he had done the vast majority of the work, but it was honestly for the best that the Batman was left entirely unmentioned.

"Even so, you should probably go along to one or another of these things eventually. It's been a while and people might start noticing that Erik Lehnsherr never seems to be about the same time as the goddamn Batman is out doing his thing. At least even if you turn up for an hour or so, you have a few witnesses to say you were definitely there, should you somehow end up in shit creek without a paddle." Logan had the astonishing ability to be incredibly insightful whilst sounding like an uneducated thug. Erik was often both envious and completely perplexed.

Logan also had a very good point in this case, although he was loathe to admit it.

"I suppose that you are correct." Erik grumbled, folding the paper and placing it back down, only to be quickly claimed by Logan. "I guess I can put in some kind of appearance at this thing. At least if they are mainly scientists I can guarantee intelligent, if dull conversation."

"Atta boy." Logan replied. "Besides, everyone there is going to be filthy stinkin' rich, so you can guarantee She is going to be there, and that's always fun for everyone." He smirked at Erik.

"Yes, it's an absolute joy." Erik stood from his seat, stretching out the kinks in his back.

"Time to train?" Logan asked absently, not even looking to the other man.

"Time to train." Erik confirmed.

"Fantastic. See you at lunch." Logan simply laughed as Erik gave him the finger before leaving the kitchen and heading for the gym.

Erik's patrol through the city that night was quiet once more, a few petty thefts and a mugging, nothing that he couldn't take care of in a matter of moments. The temptation to call it a night and return to Lehnsherr manor for his first real nights sleep in months was deeply alluring, but he couldn't afford to slack, just in case something did happen to the city. It was bound to happen the moment he lost his vigilance, and so he steeled himself, forcing himself onward, and keeping a close eye on the police reports, particularly now that he knew Rogers had it out for the Batman.

He came to a halt as he passed by a dark alleyway, noticing a group of young lads congregated in the dim light. They were surrounding another young boy, although it did not appear to have come to blows as of yet. However, as he noticed the mop of blonde hair on the young man they had surrounded, he expected it to, and soon unless he were to intervene.

Alex Summers just didn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

He caught a lad's fist as they reached out to punch Alex, preventing him from hitting the other, although in fairness, Alex had likely brought it upon himself. It was usually the case. The group of lads were not stupid though, and having realised that it was the Batman who was breaking up their scuffle, promptly legged it out of the alleyway, leaving Alex to deal with the Dark Knight. Alex had never been afraid to talk back to Erik though, telling the Batman exactly what he thought of him and to great extent at times too. Erik would have found it admirable, were it not so damn irritating.

"What the hell man?" Alex raged at him, punching the taller man in the arm and manfully hiding his wince when the armour hurt his knuckles far more than it did Erik's arm. "I could have totally taken them, now they're going to think I need the Bat to protect me!"

"You were outnumbered nine to one Alex." Erik growled, walking away down the alley towards his bike. "They were going to kick your head in."

"I don't need you to protect me man. I can take care of myself." Alex snapped at him as the black-clad man donned his bike once more.

"Of course you can." Erik leant forward on the bike. "Now go home. Don't be another statistic."

"There's new statistics now. The ones Batman caught, and the ones Batman didn't. Sometimes a guy does something because he's desperate Batdude, not because he's a dick." Alex apparently had an agenda, and Erik couldn't help but wonder if the alley fight had not been such a coincidence.

"This is about Cassidy." Erik narrowed his eyes at Alec, though from under the cowl it was unlikely to be perceived a a change in countenance. The heavy set half-covering of the face along with Erik's naturally winning smiled meant that the Batman was in a constant state of being perpetually pissed off.

Or constipated. Thank you Logan.

"I don't have time for this Alex."

"You fucking put him in there! He didn't want much, he just need to get some money to feed his fucking family! His mum is really fucking ill." Alex exploded, temper having barely held already.

"Perhaps he should have stolen some bread then, rather than a plasma screen." Erik replied. "Don't try to give me the Robbing-the-rich angle Summers, it won't fly. Now go home, and keep yourself out of trouble or you'll be joining him. You're a good kid Alex, don't fuck it up."

With that Erik sped off, not waiting for any kind of answer. He would hope that his domineering attitude would have a lasting effect on the young man, and keep him out of danger, but in actuality he'd likely just pissed Alex off even further. He just hoped he stayed away from the gangs that Erik frequently had to 'disband'. For all his harsh words, he was fond of Alex, though the boy only knew him as the Batman. They ran into each other far too often for him not to be. It was really a choice between garnering affection for the boy or smashing his face into a brick wall.

Besides, the boy had made him talk far too much. Batman's stoic man-of-few-words impressions was not just for intimidation. Putting on the deep voice in order to keep his identity to himself was rather painful after an extended period of time.

Patrol continued on as quietly as ever until nearly three am. The sun would be rising in less than an hour, and the criminal population of Gotham would be retiring for the night, relatively speaking. Erik turned the bike around in harsh spin, just for the sake of leaving tire tracks in the road from the hard turn. The was little point having a bike with such power and speed if he wasn't going to use it properly, although the bikes creator might have a little more to say about it considering the sizeable amount of tire replacements Erik tended to go through.

However, as he turned he noticed the signal that he had 'gifted' to the commissioner high in the sky. Had there been any event of utmost urgency, he would have long been there, so his curiosity was peaked. He sped his way through the city to where the signal would be heralding from, slightly concerned that it might be some sort of trap devised by Rogers. It was highly unlikely. The commissioner was incredibly loyal to the Batman, which was deeply amusing to Erik considering how much she obviously loathed Erik Lehnsherr whenever she came into contact with him. Rogers was also far too All-American police officer to implement any sort of trap, he would rather have it out upon an honest battlefield being the rather noble and upstanding Chief of Police that he was.

Erik gave him a year at best.

Climbing silently to the top of the building, Erik made sure to scope out the entire area for any indication of an ambush, but found only the Police Commissioner stood alone by the large light signal, wrapped up in a heavy coat and a beanie hat upon her head.

"You rang?" Erik jumped down behind her, landing on the balls of his feet to be as silent as possible, mostly to see if he could scare her. It rarely worked, and it did not now. Moira turned around to face him, shivering somewhat.

"Patrol all over with then?" she said, not bothering with any form of greeting. She had something of an aversion to actually saying the name Batman out loud unless it was absolutely necessary, still considering it to be entirely ridiculous despite what the Batman had actually done for the city.

"As much as it can be. You're up late Commissioner. Or early I suppose." Erik replied, standing stock still. Moira looked around briefly, and he knew it would not be long before she began to pace. He'd found that exhibiting practically no movement at all seemed to provoke others into shifting as they spoke to him, as though they felt they had to compensate for his lack of motion. He liked to enjoy the little things, and it was incredible just how many little things he'd began to notice as the Batman.

"I don't imagine you have much to do these days?" Moira said, a leading question if he had ever heard one.

"Crime is a business, as you well know Commissioner, and all businesses have their slow days." he replied, although he had a pretty certain idea of where this was leading. He appreciated what it was she was trying to do, but it was unnecessary at best, and insulting at worst.

"This is about Captain Roger's newest campaign." He said. It was not a question, and Moira sighed.

"So you have heard? Of course you've heard, what am I talking about?" She ran a hand through her hair, pulling her hat off in the process. "Steve is a good man, but he cannot see the necessity for a vigilante in the city. He believes so strongly in the power of the law, and you are considered nothing more than another thug among a rather substantial amount of people. He won't make it a primary goal to catch you, but he's not going to ignore you either."

"Gotham needs me." Erik replied simply.

"Perhaps Gotham needed you. The streets are safer than they have been in a great many years, the police can handle what is left more than adequately. Do you not think it might be better to quit whilst you are ahead?" Moira twisted her hat in her hands, which some would perhaps consider nerves. Erik knew better though and he knew Moira better too.

"Who is putting you up to this?" he demanded, in no mood to be playing guessing games. He had been rather looking forward to going home before five am for once, but now it seemed that was a distant hope.

"No one has put me up to this. I'm doing it for your own good!" Moira protested, moving to sit upon the wall that edged the top of the building. Erik simply fixed her with a look, to which she turned her head to the side, avoiding his gaze.

"The District Attorney. He supports Rogers in a clean handling of the cities law enforcement, and that leaves no place for you in his books. However, I get the feeling that he is going to pursue this a hell of a lot more strongly than the Chief. Whilst Roger's had conceded that you have served a purpose that is no longer needed, he believes that you are no better than those that you turn in. He would see you unmasked and brought in with unrelenting force if he had his way." Moira admitted.

"He might be lending Roger's his full support, but that ultimately means nothing. The criminals are only his concern once they're in front of a judge. He makes sure they get put away, I'm the one that gets them in the first place." Erik frowned, although it was impossible to tell underneath the mask.

"Do you honestly believe crime rates will stay down if I disappear?"

"The legacy of the Batman.." Moira began, but Erik cut her off.

"Is not enough to keep the criminals at bay. They will come crawling back as soon as they realise Gotham is in the hands of the police once more, and all will be as it was. You're not stupid Commissioner. You know this to be true."

"The police are managing perfectly well now. There is no reason to think they cannot continue the job from here on out." Moira still argued back, but there was little conviction to her words. She had always had trouble supporting anything she was unable to place entire faith in.

"You don't believe that." Erik stated, knowing it to be true.

The crackle of her radio distracted her from responding as she received a call in.

"Commissioner MacTaggert here. State your name, location and the problem. Over." She lifted the radio to her mouth, awaiting a response.

"Lieutenant Coulson, Commissioner. We have a 459 at the Gotham Museum, suspected 5150. We need you to come down. Over." Coulson's voiced sounded over the radio.

"Very well, I shall be there as quickly as possible. Over and out." Moira rose from the wall, placing her hat back on her head, pulling it snugly around her ears. She turned to the Batman with a sigh.

"I will do what I can, but if you get caught, there will be little I can do to help you." She replied wearily, moving to switch off the Bat signal. "He's running for Mayor you know, and then he'll be able to order a manhunt for you if it took his fancy, and there is nothing I could do to stop it."

"Running for it. Shaw isn't Mayor yet." Erik growled. He cared little for the District Attorney or his opinions on the Batman.

"Obstinate as ever." Moria sighed. "I have an investigation to oversee, but please think about it at least. I'm trying to help you."

"I could have been preventing that burglary if you hadn't insisted on this little talk." Erik said tartly, ignoring her suggestion.

"My men are handling it. Go back to whatever cave it is you crawled out of." Moira turned around to face the Batman once more, only to find that he had vanished.

"I hate it when he does that." She murmured to herself as she looked out across the city, knowing she would never catch sight of the mysterious vigilante.

Logan looked up from the computer screen as Erik tore into the base, already able to tell that the other man was in a foul mood from the way he rode in. He considered it a tertiary mutant ability.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" He asked as Erik dismounted and stormed towards him, lessening the impact of his ire when he removed his cowl as delicately as ever, taking off his gloves to run his hand of the precious piece of equipment before placing it back onto its mantel.

"I missed a burglary because the damn Commissioner fancied a chat." Erik grumbled, undoing the clasps of his cape. Logan closed down whatever lewd website it was that he had been perusing and swivelled his chair to look at Erik.

"The Museum?" he said. Erik nodded in reply.

"Caught it on the police scanners when they first called it in. From sounds of it, just mindless vandalism. Nothing taken as far as they can tell, just a very shaken night guard. They can't get any sense out of him right now, but he'll be right as rain in the morning. They always are." Logan explained, but it didn't lessen Erik's anger any.

"They can take care of one burglary Erik." Logan stood and stretched.. "And I'm willing to bet that's what Moira had to say too."

Erik's silence confirmed his suspicions.

"Nothing was taken, so we know it wasn't our little friend. Natural History ain't really her style anyway. You need to relax bub. Maybe go and get laid." Logan smirked as Erik threw a glare his way. "I'll leave you to brood down here for a while then. Don't be late for breakfast or I'll kick your ass."

"As if you could." Erik snorted as Logan made to leave.

"I've been kicking your ass since you were a foetus Lehnsherr, and don't you forget it." Logan left the room with a middle finger saluting his employer over his shoulder, to which Erik just shook his head in exasperated fondness.

As he sat at the computer though, he couldn't help but consider Logan's words. It had been a rather long time, and he supposed he was rather stressed. Glancing to the side, he noticed the invitation to the geneticists celebratory ball resting innocently on the desk, more than likely left there by Logan. He picked it up, reading over it once more.

"Well." He murmured "A little relaxation never hurt anyone."

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Lieutenant Coulson greeted the Commissioner as she pulled up to the Natural History Museum, the sun just starting to rise over Gotham. She winced slightly as it occurred to her that she would not be returning home again until long after it had set, but it was the sacrifice she made in order to protect the city that she loved.

"What do we have Lieutenant?" She asked as he led her inside. Major Romanov was overseeing the search, although it appeared there was little left to do. The main hall had been completely vandalised, a large skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex torn asunder, and red paint and streamers littered the hall. The large numbers of papers and leaflets that the Museum would hand out on a daily basis covered the floor, many torn or crumpled into balls.

"Main hall vandalised, along with the blue zone and much of the orange zone. A lot of damage, the head has been pulled off of a Dodo taxidermy, and a large tank of sea urchins split causing water damage to a lot of the surrounding displays. According to the curator, nothing of value has actually been taken though, and the safe hasn't been touched at all. We thought we could expect minor tampering at least." Coulson replied as Moira observed the damage.

"Kids with nothing better to do then?" She hazarded.

"That's the current assumption, although the Night Guard has been less than helpful. It appears that he let them in, hence why the alarm system failed to sound, but he doesn't remember a thing. Can't even remember coming in to work. He's down at the station, bit shaken so we're going to see how he fares come tomorrow." He stepped over to a box that was resting by a member of the investigating forensics team, picking up a small plastic bag that he handed to Moira.

"We found this though, tucked into the corner of that cupboard. From the way it was sticking out, I'd say we were meant to find it." Coulson gestured to an innocuous oak cupboard not far from the Museum entrance.

"Just someone trying to make a point I imagine. Kids or something. Get cleaned up here and I'll have a word with the Night Guard when I return to the station. Is the curator still here?" She asked.

Coulson nodded. "Just with Major Romanov Ma'am. I'll go and fetch him for you."

Moira nodded, and Coulson made his way to an office off the side, presumably where the Major and the curator were talking. She turned the little plastic bag over in her hands for a moment before throwing the bag and the playing card it contained back into the container for evidence.


	2. Chapter 2

Erik awoke late as usual, with Logan banging on his door. Erik smirked as the other man raged on the other side of the door, unable to enter where Erik had decided to place a chair underneath the door handle before he went to sleep the previous evening. He glanced to the clock and was more than pleased to see that the digits read nearly 1pm.

"Get your lazy fucking ass out bed Lehnsherr before I break down this damn door! You might have a preoccupation with the fucking things, but you're not a damn bat yourself!" There was a crack that indicated that Logan had kicked the door, followed by a stream of expletives. "I think I broke my god-damn foot Lehnsherr, I hope you're happy!"

Erik chuckled to himself, sprawling out on his back upon the bed and enjoying the luxury of just lying in. He understood Logan's insistence on his getting up and training each day. Though the man would never admit it, not even on pain of death, he cared for Erik and did not want to see him felled, but Erik thought that just one lie-in a month wasn't going to spell his end.

"You need to get up and get ready, you need to train before that damn shindig." Logan called through the door. Erik frowned, sitting up in bed and running his hand through his hair.

"That's not until next week you imbecile. It said as much on the invite."

He called back, slowly stretching and removing himself from his terribly comfortable bed.

"That post was from last week moron." Logan replied. Erik swore loudly.

"What the fuck Logan!" He shouted, pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"My bad." Erik could just imagine the smirk on the other man's face.

"I'll meet you down in the gym, and you better have me a fucking sandwich ready." he called out, looking around for his trainers in the mess that he had made of his room in the recent days. Logan really was a shit housekeeper.

"You can go fuck yourself. Sir." Logan's footsteps could be heard disappearing down the hall and Erik shook his head in fond exasperation. Perhaps less than fond, since he knew full well there would be no sandwich in sight when he made his way down to gym.

Logan held the punching bag steady as Erik pounded into it, sweat pouring from his brow as he beat the innocent bag mercilessly.

"You know." He panted "I have half a mind not to go to this ridiculous event now. I thought I would have more time to prepare."

Logan snorted. "Prepare for what exactly? All they will do is discuss news they don't actually give a fuck about, eat caviare and conveniently tell you how single their daughters are."

"No one ever actually eats the caviare you know. They just put it out for the sake of it. Vol-au-vents are far nicer, and they have some kind of filling to them." Erik replied, stopping in his assault of the bag to wipe his brow and walking to the side of the hall-cum-gym to retrieve some water.

"I'm sure they are fucking divine, but I think I'll stick with a Big Mac if it's all the same to you bub." Logan moved to the side of the hall to sit on the bench on which Erik left his belongings. "I've been doing a little research here and there for you though, finding out the low-down on this shindig."

Erik placed the cap back onto his water bottle. "oh?"

"This guy, his name's Charles Xavier, not actually all that old. Part of the reason he's being celebrated. Young, rich and intelligent, so likely yet another prick who can afford to sit around and read books on daddy's money..."

"I resent that." Erik cut in. Logan waved a hand.

"Current persons not withstanding. Specialises in Genetics, mutations to be specific, thought you might like that. One living relative, sister, part-time model, full-time spoilt brat if you ask me, though no-one ever does. MacTaggert's been invited, so I'd steer clear unless you fancy a fight." Logan fixed Erik with a 'look.

"When have I ever courted argument?" Erik smirked, to which Logan simply shook his head.

"To be honest I doubt she'll even be there. It's not her style to shirk work to rub shoulders with the elite. Oh, our new best friend District Attorney Shaw is invited..."

"I don't give a fuck about Shaw." Erik muttered.

"I am well aware, but you might be interested in this. He's taking a Date." The inflection was clear.

"Ah. A Date." Erik sighed. "I suppose this means that I have to go."

"Pretty much. She's bound to be there on business." Logan stood, handing Erik a small towel with which the other wiped the remainder of sweat from his face.

"I can never just have one night off can I?" Erik replied, pinching his glabella.

"I'm afraid not bub, but you chose this. Don't forget that." The two men walked from the room, Logan turning the lights off as they left and walked down one of the Lehnsherr mansions many corridors.

"I don't think that is possible Logan." Erik muttered, before taking leave of the other man's company when they reached the stairs that led to his bedroom, in order to shower and prepare for the coming evening.

The celebration was due to commence at nine o'clock precisely that evening, so Erik arrived fashionably late at ten o'clock, apparently like a great many others. Speeches and such were not scheduled until past midnight, so it seemed that even the events co-ordinators were expecting as much. The party itself was being held at the large home of some rich socialite or another whom Erik hadn't cared to remember. It was probably a terrible social faux-pas, Erik assumed he had already garnered enough of a reputation as a moody, eccentric shut-in to be able to get away with it on the odd occasion he still attended these things.

The mansion home was decked out in a typically audacious manner, with gold hangings, numerous ice sculptures of a DNA helix and enough food to feed a small nation, that would undoubtedly be nearly untouched when the night drew to a close.

Erik drew aside the nearest waiter that he could find, requesting a Martini, shaken not stirred. He was well aware how pretentious he sounded, but he had a reputation to uphold. It also tasted better, but that was besides the point. He had to ensure that every other attendee believe him to be as pretentious and self-serving as they were, and he'd spent years perfecting the act.

Certain housekeeper's might have something to say about the validity of the use of the word 'act'.

Erik made his way quickly to the edge of the main hall, not enough that he was hidden, but stood to the side of the majority of the crowd, not keen to involve himself in conversation just yet. There was a man with ridiculously floppy hair to his left, and an older couple silently hating each other so strongly to his right that he edged away from them a little, the blatant hostility somewhat disconcerting.

"Lady Grey discovered that her husband has been somewhat close with the nanny today, thanks you her young daughter. The downsides of a telepathic child I suppose." The young man laughed lowly, and Erik realised that he was being spoken to. "Don't let their hostility alarm you. Lady Grey is simply annoying that it happened today, convinced that her husband did it on purpose to ruin the effort she put into the party. He is just put out because she fired the nanny."

Erik frowned. "And how is it that you know all this?" He had a feeling he knew the answer. "I don't suppose that you are a telepath by any chance?" Erik asked coldly.

For all that he was a staunch supporter of mutant rights, Erik couldn't help but feel uneasy about the idea of someone getting inside his head. Bad experience had something to do with it, but it had never been something he had been comfortable with his entire life. He knew it was hypocritical of him, but he figured that nobody was perfect.

Logan said he was talking out of his ass.

The young man didn't seem particularly disconcerted by Erik's cold manner however, simply laughing instead. Erik was not sure how he felt about that.

"I am in fact, although simply a lucky guess. I try not to invade where needs be, it just happens that young Jean Grey is a very talkative little girl."

Despite his reservations, Erik found himself smiling.

"This Jean may find herself in a lot of trouble is she does not learn to bite her tongue." he replied.

"Sir, your Martini." They were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a waiter at Erik's side, drink placed neatly in the middle of the tray, which Erik took, thanking the man as he did so, who looked mildly surprised by the courtesy.

"So you are hiding in plain sight as well then?" Erik asked, gesturing to their position at the side of the room.

"Oh not at all, merely taking a short respite. I have been here since the beginning of the night and endless repetition of the same five or six questions can be rather grating after a while." The other man replied, looking slightly guilty as he looked out over the crowd. "I have no problem with socialising, I am fond of it in fact, but extended periods of dealing with people is far more my sister's area of expertise. "

"I find the whole lot of it incredibly dull, if I am to be completely honest. I am only here at the persuasion of a friend. These events are all the same, false charity balls or ceremonies honours decrepit old men and spoilt little rich boys with too much time on their hands. Nothing ever changes and that is why I like to avoid these things as much as I possibly can."

The young man laughed. "And with that charming attitude it is a wonder you are invited anywhere at all, my friend. But I suppose one has to admire your honesty, I give you that. Do you not think that you are being slightly cynical however?"

"Not at all. Everyone here is exactly the same, and you only have to talk to them for five minutes to discover that." he scoffed.

"We have been speaking for almost twice that. Have you concluded much the same about me?" The man smiled at him, blue eyes lighting up in amusement and Erik suddenly realised that he was rather attractive, in a ladish kind of way. It had been some time since Erik had indulged,

"Well, I suppose that it very true. The exception that proves the rule no doubt."

"That is entirely the wrong way in which to use that idiom you know." The other looked set to continue when he was approached by a tall, slim man in spectacles, who said something to him quietly after which the shorter turned to Erik once more.

"I am terribly sorry, but duty calls once more I am afraid. I do hope that we can talk again later on though. This has been most entertaining." He nodded at Erik before quickly disappearing into the crown, leaving Erik no time to request his name.

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Erik spent the next forty-five minutes steadily working his way through three Martinis, and indulging the brave few who actually tried to talk to him, his conversation with the lively young man having improved his mood somewhat. He had been surprised not to see Stark at the event, although the man had any multitude of parties to choose to attend, often throwing his own impromptu get-togethers for the mere sake of it. He also had yet to see MacTaggert, which presumably meant that she was not coming, much to his relief. He had no desire to exchange insults with anyone presently.

"Hello there Tall, Dark and Moody."

Erik was surprised to turn and see a pretty young blonde at his side, smiling up at him. It wasn't often that someone was able to sneak up on him and he looked at her curiously, wondering which rich father she was under instruction from. He fixed curiosity into hostility when she slipped her arm through his, but the girl was not phased, reminding him of the young man from earlier who he'd yet to see again.

"Don't worry." She said with a giggle "I am not here to attempt to win your heart, or rather, your fortune. I thought you looked lonely, so I had the idea that I might keep you company."

"Oh you did? Well I can assure you that I fare perfectly fine, thank you all the same." Erik attempted to removed himself from her grip, but it was to no avail. She was a lot stronger than she appeared.

"Don't be silly now, it's a party! Come and meet my brother, he is the guest of honour you know!"

The girl pulled him across the hall, through the throng of people, chattering at him nonsensically, during which he managed to catch that her name was Raven.

She dragged him to a small group of people, finally coming to a halt.

"Charles, this is Erik Lehnsherr, he owns Lehnsherr corporations." Erik did not recall telling her any of this, but as a little socialite she was likely well versed in all the major company owners of Gotham, as well as exactly how many of them were currently unattached.

He was stunned however, when her brother turned around, revealing himself to be the floppy haired young man with the bright blue eyes who had so caught Erik's attention. He smiled genially at Erik, eyes glittering with amusement once more.

"Ah yes, we met earlier I believe." He held out a hand. "Charles Xavier. Geneticist and Spoilt Little Rich Boy."

Erik managed to keep straight-faced as he shook the out-stretched hand, Xavier's grip firm in his own.

"Erik Lehnsherr. Sorry about that."

"No you're not." Charles replied. "But that's quite alright. I rather admired your refreshing brand of honesty, such a change from what I am accustomed to."

Erik grinned at the shorter man. He definitely liked Charles Xavier.

The two men had been talking for almost twenty-five minutes on all sorts of topics, during which time Erik had learnt that Charles was looking into what exactly made the mutant gene appear in some individuals and not in other, and if there was anyway that it could be harnessed in order to help those mutants whose mutations harm their host more than they assist. Despite never having had much interest in the human sciences, naturally better with metals and machines, Erik found himself absorbing Charles's every word. He was intelligent and well-mannered, but had a wicked sense of humour to him that Erik found incredibly endearing. Charles sister Raven had grown tired of their conversation after the first five minutes, and wandered off leaving Charles and Erik to themselves, something Erik had absolutely no quarrel with.

"You are not what I expected at all, I have to admit." Erik said as they took the new drinks that had been brought to them. He'd persuaded Charles to try a Martini, claiming it sacrilege that he had yet to taste them, and the younger man had taken to them like a fish to water, already on his third in less than thirty minutes. He appeared to have a rather good tolerance for alcohol however, still able to keep up with Erik and their easy banter.

"I rarely am." Charles smiled, placing his hand on Erik's arm. The man was rather free with his affections, something Erik usually could not stand, but apparently was able to make an exception for the enigmatic young Professor.

Erik opened his mouth to speak further, but stopped when he sensed a rather significant mass of metal moving towards them through the crowd. There was a hand on his arm that was more nails than fingers, and he turned to face the inevitable.

"Hello Erik." Emma smiled sweetly at him, hair and make-up immaculate as ever, and absolutely stunning in a long white dress, split on the right to reveal one perfect leg. "How wonderful to see you here darling, how long has it been? Two months?"

/The jewels of the visiting African Ambassadors daughter I believe?/ Emma's voice echoed within Erik's head, tinkling like crystal. Erik grit his teeth.

"About that I believe yes. Charles, this is Emma Frost, an...associate of mine."

/One month, three weeks. Van Dyne's pearls./ He replied mentally /stay out of my head./

"Congratulations on the ceremony Professor Xavier, a wonderful achievement, but if I may, I'd like to steal Erik away from you a moment. I'm sure he will indulge me in one dance." Emma let her hand slide down Erik's arm as she spoke, and Erik was pleased to see Charles looking disgruntled, despite having known the man barely an hour.

"By all means Miss Frost. I am going to be needed on the stage presently anyway." Charles smile seemed much more forced than it ever had been with Erik, though Erik did think that he might be thinking wishfully perhaps. "It has been a pleasure Erik. We shall have to do dinner sometime."

"Thank you Charles. That sounds wonderful." Erik nodded to Charles, who returned the gesture and disappeared into the multitude of people that surrounded them, whilst Emma led Erik over to the dance floor with all of her usual grace and refinement.

"Touchy tonight aren't we Erik?" she said as they began to move to the music, looking for all the world like they were enjoying themselves to the outside world, even as Emma dug her nails into Erik's shoulder and he gripped her waist with the intention to bruise.

"You know perfectly well to stay out of my head Emma." Erik replied, dipping the woman slightly. He could feel the weight of the metal on her as he did so, idly wondering how she managed to conceal it all within her form-fitting dress, since she did not carry a purse.

"But you are so much more fun than everyone else." she pouted. Erik gripped her wrist suddenly.

"I like those cuff links Emma." he said warningly, to which she opened her palm and he took the offending item, sliding it into his inner pocket. "Haven't you lifted enough tonight? You should think yourself lucky that I am not turning you in."

"You can't turn me in sweetie. That would be turning yourself in also, and that just won't do will it?"

She smiled at him dangerously, and he sighed. She had him there, as much as he loathed to admit it.

"Where's your date?" he asked, leading her across the floor.

"Something came up, but he asked me to come in order to represent him and I'm not going to refuse an offer like that, not with so many marks wearing all their finery in one room. I'm like a kid in a shiny candy store." Emma chuckled.

The music stopped suddenly and an elderly gentleman stood up on the stage at the front of the room to announce that the speeches were due to begin, which also signalled Erik's queue to leave, not able to leave patrol out entirely, even for one night.

"I suppose that you are off to be the Big Bad Bat?" Emma leant forward, murmuring into his ear. Erik pushed her away.

"I said stop that."

"Born this way baby." Emma smirked. "You go have your fun then sugar, I'm having too much fun here tonight." She pushed away from Erik and _sashayed off into the crowed, likely already having another target in mind. She always left Erik with a peculiar sense of discontentment. She was a criminal, but she ran in the same circles as he did and by unfortunate circumstance discovered who he was through her telepathy. His cowl was primarily for her, although they had managed to come to some kind of silent agreement. Outside of Batman and the White Queen, they had no quarrel and occasions such as this Erik would let her be, as much as it pained him to do so. In return, she kept his secret which was more than worth their tentative truce. However, all bets were off once the masks were on, since there was no universe in which Erik was going to let her get away with a major heist. It was a peculiar sort of arrangement, one that had Logan gnashing his teeth at every opportunity, but so far it had held, and Erik supposed that was as good as anything._

_He made his way to the door quickly and quietly as people began to gather for the talks. He was rather disappointed now that he was unable to stay for Charles's speech, having discovered he rather enjoyed the Professors company, but Gotham had to come first. There would be time for socialising another day, they had at least promised each other a dinner, and that would have to do, though whether it would come to anything remained to be seen. He was almost accosted at the door by Thor of Odin's and son's, but thankfully the man's younger brother dragged him away to find a place for the speeches. It was not that Erik minded the man so much, but he could talk for hours without end. There was also the matter of his brother, who spoke in such a complicated manner that he might as well be speaking riddles, a secretive and dark man which Erik was always wary of in a person._

_They also had a peculiarly close relationship which unnerved Erik, but he tried not to examine that too closely. Each to their own and such._

_By the time he got back to the mansion it was nearing one AM, and Logan scowled at him as he prepared to go out, chastising him for not remaining at the party. Erik ignored him though, late as he was and changed in a hurry, pulling on his cowl and powering out of the cave on his bike to try and catch up with patrol. It was about half an hour before he patched in on his first police radio. The Gotham Library had been broken into, and so Erik turned the bike around, heading off to his first incident of the night. _


	3. Chapter 3

Erik arrived at Gotham library having found that he was too late, and the perpetrators had been and gone already. He had still managed to arrive a good fifteen minutes before the police force, and took it upon himself to look around and survey the damage.

And there was a lot of damage. There was very little of value within the Library itself, unless some kind of exhibition was on, and the break-in looked like destruction for destruction's sake. He briefly checked underneath the main counter to the safe where the days takings of late fees and the such would be kept, to find that the safe itself had been completely untouched. The only thing that caught Erik's attention was a playing card tucked into the corner of a receipt book, obviously left on purpose. Having 'acquired' the police reports from the break-in at the Natural History Museum, Erik knew that it was not by mere coincidence. The police had wrote off the incident as foul play, presuming it was one of the small street gangs that plagued Gotham with vandalism and petty thefts, bored of their usual haunts and taking it out on public property. Erik suspected differently. He'd driven the majority of the crime lords underground or put them behind bars, but every now and then one would reappear to make a stand against the Batman, redundant as it was. With calling cards like these, Erik couldn't help but feel someone was trying to make a point.

He examined the card in his hand. It was a Joker card just as it had been at the Museum, from a simple deck more than likely available from any regular toy store. He slipped the card into one of the compartments on his belt, intending to dust it for prints when he returned to his lair under the mansion, but not expecting any major results. The police report had also covered this basic act, unable to recover anything from the card though, helping to further cement Erik's suspicions that this was more than children with nothing better to do. No gang would take that kind of care with a prank.

Someone was trying to make a point and Erik did not like it when criminals decided to have opinions.

There was a crash from behind Erik, and the umbrella stand that had been tipped over by the door rolled towards Erik. He stopped it with his foot, looking for whomever had caused the disturbance.

There was a young man at the side of the hall, leaning heavily on the wall next to the library door. His outfit was in disarray, and as he approached Erik could see that he wore a small name tag informing Erik that his name was Bobby, from which he guessed he must be one of the librarians. Erik had no idea what the boy was doing at work at midnight, but stranger things had happened. He was probably filing or something. Bobby was trembling terribly, and Erik assumed that the lad had had some kind of encounter with whoever had broken into the library. He stepped towards the young man carefully.

"Kid, are you alright?" he said gruffly. Bobby took no notice of him, still shaking and apparently far to immersed in whatever it was he had in his hands.

"Hey kid. I said are you alright? Did you see who did this?" Erik asked angrily. Patience had never been one of his virtues. He reached the boy, intending to shake some sense into him when he realised the boy was actually shaking with laughter, small giggles escaping from his lips as he stared at his hand. Looking down, Erik saw that the young man was also a mutant, and was solidifying water in his hand into a cube of ice and then back again repeatedly, so absorbed in this task he didn't even realise Erik was in front of him. Erik gripped his shoulder and Bobby finally looked up, still laughing to himself.

Looking into the boys eyes, Erik knew immediately that he was not going to be of any use. He was dead in the eyes. 'Light's on but ain't nobody home' as Logan would like to say. Erik would not have known what the problem was, except that he had seen it just one time before.

One time was enough to remember however. He shuddered, shaking the memory away.

For his own safety more than anything, Erik tied up Bobby, only enough to restrain him, not discomfort, and left him sat upon the floor. For his part, the young man did not appear to be aware that circumstance had changed, giggling incessantly as Erik used the metal infused in the cords he carried to secure Bobby. It was very disconcerting, and Erik would be glad to leave the young man, as awful as he felt for that particular thought.

The sound of police sirens began to wail in the distance, drawing in on the library rapidly and Erik decided it was time to take his leave. He had been unable to prevent the break-in, and he didn't need to be found on the scene with no criminal to show for it, and what would probably be interpreted as a hostage. The Chief of Police was already gunning for his head without adding a suspected robbery and kidnapping on top of the countless things Rogers was trying to accuse him of.

Erik left the building, speeding off on his bike just moments before the police turned the corner and trying not the think about the demented young man that he had left in the wake of the night.

When Logan walked into the kitchen of Lehnsherr Mansion the next day at eight AM to find Erik awake, drinking coffee and reading the morning paper at the counter, he promptly turned around and left the room again. He returned a few moments later, sitting down opposite Erik, who raised an eyebrow at him curiously.

"Thought I was hallucinating." he said, pouring himself some coffee from the batch that Erik had brewed, stirring an incomprehensible amount of sugar into it that Erik grimaced at.

"I am capable of getting up by myself, astonishing as it may seem." Erik replied, sipping his own, significantly more bitter brew.

"Are you dying?" Logan asked, attempting to snatch a slice of toast from the plate in front of Erik. Erik frowned, pulling the plate away.

"My mutation means that I have complete control over metal. Your body is filled with metal. Do not steal my toast." he said warningly.

"Like you would." Logan shot back, to which Erik raised an eyebrow.

"You want to test that theory of yours?" he replied, taking a bite out of his salvaged toast, which was actually rather soggy and slightly cold, having been sat in front of him for a good twenty minutes or so.

"If you keep doing that, your face will get stuck that way and then no-one is going to take the Batman seriously." Logan said, ignoring Erik's challenge and pulling the nearest box of cereal to him, which happened to be Bran Flakes. The box was promptly shoved back to the middle of the table in favour of something that was more likely to be ninety percent sugar.

"Why do you keep buying that shit?" Logan asked, filling his bowl almost to the brim.

"I don't. You do. You do the shopping , not me." Erik placed the paper down on the table top, standing to dispose of his lukewarm toast. Logan held a piece of paper out to him as he passed, which he grabbed from the other man as he passed. He looked to the small note, which had a short message.

'Meet me tonight Sugar. There are things that we must discuss.'

Underneath the elegant handwriting was a small blue diamond stamped neatly in place of a signature. Erik would have considered it overkill, but he couldn't really say anything since he spent his nights patrolling Gotham city dressed as a bat.

"Where was this?" he asked, waving the note in Logan's direction.

"On the classic Jag. The white one of course. Lady has a preoccupation, if you ask me." Logan replied through a mouth full of cereal. He had the most appalling table manners.

"No-one ever asks you Logan." Erik mumbled, looking at the note once more. "Do you think it's about the Library?"

"With her? Who knows, could just be a social call or she might want to kill you. The old Queen is a bit unpredictable like that." Logan laughed. "Likely though. Emma ain't never played well with others, can't see her letting another telepath hang around. Remember Scarecrow?"

"How could I forget?" Erik muttered. He picked up the mail from the counter that he had yet to open, pouring himself a fresh coffee into a clean mug beforehand.

"I'm going to go and look at the accounts, do some research. I'll see you in the gym this afternoon. Try not to break anything I own in that time." he said to Logan before he left.

"I'm not making any promises." Logan replied, standing to take his empty bowl to the dishwasher.

A few moments after Erik had closed the door, there was the shattering sound of ceramic hitting tile, and Erik was certain Logan had done it on purpose.

Later that night, Erik travelled to the top of the Gotham Department Store, where he and Emma had come accustomed to meeting when necessary, at one AM by some unspoken agreement. Upon realising that they had a set destination and time, and were 'accustomed' to meeting, Erik grimaced. He was going to have to do something about that.

He landed on the roof a few feet from Emma, who was clad in her white catsuit, along with a white mask over her eyes. The suit was incredibly skin tight, coupled with heels that should really have been too high to be practical, but some how Emma made it work. Erik had once asked her where she kept her keys in that thing. She had slapped him for it.

"I don't like it when you break into my house Emma." He said warningly, not bothering with any kind of greeting.

"I do it more often than you think, darling." Emma replied sweetly. "but don't worry. It won't be happening for a while now. I am taking an extended leave of absence. I would recommend that you do too, honey, but I know that you just won't listen to me."

Erik frowned. "Why does this interest me at all? I don't really care what you do in your own time."

Emma walked to the edge of the building, looking out over the city.

"Your new enemy isn't to be trifled with, Erik." She said, not facing him. Her tone had dropped and Erik could almost feel the serious turn that they had suddenly taken.

"I am going to assume this is about the library incident." he replied. "I know that you don't like it when there are more powerful kids in the playground."

Emma shook her head, hair shining in the night lights of the city.

"This is different. You know perfectly well I can take care of it if I want too." Emma smiled at Erik, far too mildly.

"I would prefer we don't have another Wyngarde incident, if you don't mind." he growled, remaining still as Emma paced the roof around him like a tiger.

"Believe me, if that were possible it would have already happened. He's dangerous Erik. Very dangerous. I could see them from where I was last night..." Erik cut her off.

"You were there? What happened to the party?" he snapped. Emma waved a hand in dismissal.

"I got bored, sweetie. You know how it is. Anyway, as I was saying, I could see what was happening, though I didn't see any faces, sorry to disappoint." her voice dropped low. "I didn't dare get that close." Emma closed her eyes briefly, obviously frowning beneath the mask and it made Erik uneasy. Emma was rarely bothered by anything.

"Obviously, I was curious and decided to see what was going on. He forced me out. I didn't get a name, a face, I didn't even get to feel his mind. To be honest, I don't even know if he was a he. I am almost certain whoever it was would have destroyed my mind just like our little librarians had I not shielded in every way I can and got away from there as fast as I could." Emma sighed, folding her arms. It was very unlike her to be stark with Erik about anything, so Erik remained silent, listening to her tale.

"I value my mind, Erik. So I am leaving Gotham. I just wanted to warn you, because I know that you are not just going to let this go. I'd keep a tight grip on that helmet of yours, sugar. You're going to need it." she finished, coming to stop in front of Erik, looking up at him.

"A higher rating than you then?" He asked, to which she nodded. "Then they're not a local. There's no-one in Gotham above a seven, save for you."

There were not many telepaths in Gotham at all, and the few that there was were strictly monitored. Erik had already ran a brief scan during his search earlier in the day, although most of his time had actually been spent on his accounts, having neglected them a little too long. Among them an Elizabeth Braddock, rated at a five and of course the enigmatic Charles Xavier, rated at a four. And if Erik had lingered a little too long on Charles's profile picture, that was his business. Young Jean Grey, rated at a surprisingly high seven and of course, Jason Wyngarde, now residing in Arkham Asylum and not officially rated any more, courtesy of Emma, who naturally was not on the register. A little favour from Erik, who was not officially registered as a mutant himself.

"Whoever they are, they're looking for a fight. He's not stealing anything, and running circles around the police. And you for a matter of fact. Have you noticed he has struck two places that are directly across the city from your location? I'd say he has eyes on you, and chooses his targets based on where you are." Emma said, tapping a perfectly manicured fingernail on Erik's chest plate. He frowned at the action, but had to admit that she was right.

"He's ultimately just another criminal. They all think they've got something big to say, something important to prove, but at the end of the day they're just men with a grudge against the world." Erik replied. Emma rolled her eyes, but said nothing. She stepped towards the edge of the roof, her usual sign that she was done with conversation for the night.

"One thing Emma, since I don't know when you'll be around again." Erik called. "Isn't there anything you can do for Bobby, the guy he messed up? His parents were pretty distraught according to the papers."

Emma looked at him, and shook her head sadly.

"I might be able to stop the madness, but he'll never be the kid they knew again. His memories weren't suppressed, they were wiped. You work with computers, the mind is kind of like a hard drive in that respect. Once it's gone, it's gone for good." She hesitated. "I'm sorry Erik."

Erik sighed, watching as she leapt over the side of the building, knowing that if he were to look down, she would be long gone.

"Yeah." He said to himself. "Me too."

For the next three days Erik's patrols were relatively quiet once more, though he didn't dare turn in early for the fear that his mysterious new adversary might strike again. He would never admit it, but some of the exhilaration had finally returned to his nightly routine, waiting for something other than the rigmarole of hoodlums and petty theft.

Having returned to his usual patrolling meant that his waking times grew steadily later once more, much to the vexation of Logan, who had taken to phoning all three of the phones that Erik had in his room at one time, one land line and two mobile phones, one personal, one business. It wasn't until the third day, when his personal mobile rang at ten AM that Erik had finally had enough and picked up the phone, mashing the answer button angrily.

"For fucks sake Logan! It's my house and I'll get up when I goddamn feel like it, you insensitive prick!" He yelled into the phone, voice hoarse and scratchy from sleep. "Now fuck off, jerk."

"I'm terribly sorry Erik." a voice said from the other end of the line that was definitely not Logan. "I expect that this means I woke you?"

Erik sat up in the bed, covers pooling around his waist, immediately wide awake.

"Charles? How did you get this number?" he asked, rubbing at his eyes.

"Well, I've been debating it for the week or so that it's been since our meeting and finally decided to attempt to contact you for that dinner I suggested at that dire function." Charles laughed into the phone. "Of course I couldn't find your home number in the yellow pages, but I contacted Lehnsherr Corporations and a Mr Stark was more than willing to pass your number my way."

Erik pinched his glabella. "I'm sure that he was."

"So, would you care for it? Or have I disturbed you enough already?" Charles's voice was steady, but Erik could sense the slight trepidation in the statement.

"Wait, what? Oh, dinner!" Erik remembered "Of course not, I would love to."

Charles perked up immediately. "Splendid, you can pick me up at six! I shall make us a reservation at the Fox Gardens. See you this evening Erik." Charles hung up and Erik stared at the phone in his hand, trying to comprehend what had just happened. It had all gone very quickly, and he had only just woke up after all.

Logan came barrelling into the room not long after, adamantium claws extended and clad in only his boxer shorts. Erik looked at him incredulously and the other man retracted the claws back into his hands.

"You were the one yelling bub." he said, not caring for his lack of attire. "What was all that about?"

Erik grinned at him. "I need the porsche filled up. I've got a date."

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Conversation flowed as easily as water between Erik and Charles once more, and Erik listened eagerly as Charles blathered at him about a new project called 'Cerebro' that he was working on at his facility. Erik understood little, but still more than he had when Charles was talking of genetics at the ceremony. The Cerebro project seemed more computer-based, to his surprise.

"Of course it's a complete turn-around from what I am used to working on, but the possibility are absolutely mind blowing!" Charles explained excitedly over dinner, ignoring his pudding in his ardour. "Of course, it's Hank who is the real genius, you met him at the function briefly I believe. He came and stole me away from you on our first meeting." Charles smiled coyly, before continuing. "His mind is incredible though, he theorised a thermonuclear reactor at fourteen. It's astounding, truly. Oh but I am going on. Do tell me about you Erik."

Erik spoke a little of himself, but found it difficult to find much interesting to say. He didn't spend much time in Lehnsherr corporations itself, working from home whenever possible and there was very little in his life that didn't come from the Batman any more. He had not realised quite how much his vigilante alter-ego had permeated his life, almost feeling like Erik Lehnsherr was now the façade. He found himself opening up to Charles about his younger life, the loss of his parents, his grand inheritance and the perpetual pain in his ass that was Logan. It was not often that Erik found someone whom he could open up to so easily after such a short time, but there was a connection with Charles that Erik was not sure he had ever felt before.

All too soon he found himself dropping Charles at the doors of an incredibly luxurious apartment complex, and he found that he really did not want Charles to leave just yet.

Thankfully, Charles apparently felt the same way.

He pulled Erik across the car for a deep kiss, pulling him in by his tie.

"Raven is out for the night." He murmured against Erik's lips. " Perhaps you would like to come up for a night cap Erik?"

Erik was never going to say no to an offer like that, and he hurried the car around to the car park whilst Charles went upstairs to his home.

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Charles dragged Erik in by the lapels on opening his front door, and Erik caught a brief glance of two glasses of scotch sat upon a counter, but that was all he had time before Charles was coaxing him through to the bedroom, pulling the other man down to lay on top of him on the bed. Erik had not actually been planning to bed Charles that night, for all his reputation might precede him, but there was something entirely irresistible about the young man.

And well, it had been quite some time.

Charles removed his clothes with an incredible ferocity, both men entirely naked before Erik had had any time to take it in. He kissed Charles deeply, mapping his mouth with his tongue as he burrowed his hands in the other's thick hair and pressed their hips together, enticing a moan from the man beneath him.

"Fuck me Erik." He murmured, running a hand down the other's back to grip at Erik's buttocks, causing Erik to groan and suck at Charles neck. He reached and fumbled blindly in Charles's bedside table for a moment, before eventually having to give in and turn on the bedside lamp, the darkness and unfamiliarity of the room defeating him. He retrieved the desired lube from the draw, along with a condom, which Charles deftly took from him and tore open with his teeth, something Erik hadn't witnessed since he was a teenager and rolled it onto Erik's waiting member. He lay back, resting his arms on the pillow above his head and legs spread unashamedly.

"Take your time, darling." he said mockingly. Erik leant over the other man, tapping his leg with the tube in his hand.

"Don't be cheeky." He said, before slipping a finger into Charles's body and preparing him, revelling in Charles's whimpers as he moved his fingers inside him. Finally Charles was as ready as he was ever going to be, and Erik removed his hand, lining himself up and sinking into Charles's body with a grunt. Charles gripped at Erik's back as the other man began to move, nails leaving red welts on his shoulders as Erik grabbed Charles's leg behind the knee and pushing it out, spreading the other man wide as he thrust into him.

After what Erik considered an appalling short amount of time, he began to feel that he was close, attempting to slow in his movements, but urged on by Charles to keep going.

"Don't stop. Harder, Erik." he panted out, cheeks flushed and eyes bright as Erik leaned down to plunder his mouth once more. He bit his lip as Erik pulled away, unbearably lost in pleasure and Erik tipped over the edge, coming hotly into Charles's body as Charles himself came between their bodies. His eyes were bright and open in the dim light of the bedroom, hair damp and stuck to his flushed face and Erik thought he hadn't seen anyone so gorgeous in all his life.

They lay for a few moments in the dark, heated bodies cooling, Erik leaning on his arm and letting his fingers run up and down Charles spine, skin soft and supple under his touch. Eventually, he glanced to the clock, noticing that it was almost midnight once more. It was astonishing how quickly time passed with Charles, when they had not known each other really more than a day. Erik swung his legs from the bed, Charles watching the taller man as he retrieved his clothes.

"Leaving so soon?" Charles asked with a smile, which Erik returned.

"I am afraid so. I have an early appointment with my friend Mr Stark, I am afraid." he replied.

Charles chuckled. "Please send him my warm regards."

"I shall indeed." Erik sat on the edge of the bed, leaning down to press his lips to Charles's own. "I'm invited to a rally for our wonderful District Attorney on Sunday, if you would care to join me in taking advantage of expensive food provided by the state."

"Now there is an offer I cannot refuse." Charles grinned. "I shall see you Sunday then, Mr Lehnsherr."

"Not going to see me out? That's very ungentlemanly of you, Mr Xavier." Erik chided, adjusting his tie as he walked to the door of the bedroom.

"You'll find there is actually very little gentlemanly about me, I can assure you." Charles laughed, watching as Erik left.

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Logan took one look at Erik when he returned home and snorted before returning to the dubious reading material he had to hand, but Erik couldn't bring himself to find one sarcastic remark, feeling far happier and relaxed than he had in a long time, and genuinely looking forward to the rally come Sunday, thanks to one Charles Xavier.


	4. Chapter 4

Erik awoke around ten AM the next morning, following yet another quiet patrol. His new 'friend' seemed to have gone quiet once more, and he couldn't help but feel Emma might have been overreacting. He would have said that she was definitely overreacting, if he had not known it not to be in her nature to do so. Everyone made mistakes however, as much as the woman would vehemently deny it were it to be suggested to her face.

Logan was nowhere to be seen when Erik descended to the kitchen, though the usual cereals had been left on the breakfast table, along with a lukewarm pot of coffee, indicating that the other man had probably left the house only perhaps a half hour before Erik came downstairs. Erik had to admit he was ever so slightly put out, having once again risen early enough for it to be a shock to Logan, but it was the man's day off, and he was entitled to do as he pleased. Erik supposed he should be thankful that there was breakfast prepared, though that could just as easily been Logan simply not caring enough to put the items away once he was done.

Erik drank some of the cool coffee, not bothering with any of the cereals, intending to acquire a more substantial breakfast whilst he ran his errand for the day. He had an appointment with his technical expert, as much as he would like to avoid it.

Tony was going to tear him a new one when he saw the state of the patrol bike.

Erik didn't particularly care, Tony had been the one to 'offer' to be his technical aid, not that Erik actually needed one, after figuring out Erik was the Batman in the space of about three days. The man wasn't registered as a mutant, but Erik was pretty certain the kind of intelligence Tony harboured was not natural. Then again, he man did not like to handed things directly either, so he had always been a little strange.

Downing the rest of his tepid drink, Erik made his way to the garage in order to drive to Stark's workshop, that he had inexplicably ended up providing despite Tony's rather substantial fortune of his own.

If Logan had taken the Jag, Erik was going to pull his skeleton out via his ass.

As predicted, Tony was not happy about the state of the bike.

"What the hell do you do to her?" he exclaimed, running a hand over the dented mental like it were an injured baby. Tony had a strange affinity to machines.

"I deliver pizza in it Tony. What the hell do you think I do to it? High speed chases don't leave much room for careful handling." Erik helped himself to a packet of blueberries that were laying on Tony's desk. He was probably providing them anyway. "You love fixing the thing up anyway. I bet you have at least 7 new and improved gadgets you want to attach to the thing."

"New or improved. You can't improve something that's new, that makes no sense." Tony replied, still focused on the bike in the middle of the room. "And that is silly Erik. I only have 3 for you. I'm not made of hands you know."

"The Chief of Police and your PA might have something different to say on that matter." Erik laughed, throwing a blueberry at his companion.

"Pepper doesn't mind, she knows what I'm like." Tony smirked, standing up and wiping oil from his hands. " And Steve loved it really. He's just playing hard to get."

Erik raised an eyebrow at the other man.

"You're banned from the police station."

"Really hard to get." Tony said, waving a hand dismissively. "So are you looking for this Joker guy then?"

Erik frowned, placing the blueberries down on the desk. "Who?"

"The Joker. Been trashing up the library and the museum, and yes I know you were there. Fucked up some kid's head, according to the papers." He glanced at Erik. "Not been so kind to you either. Apparently you should be well on the case by now."

"The Joker? Is that because of the cards?" Erik asked, tone flat. This was not good.

"No, it's because of his brilliant stand-up routines. Don't be an idiot Erik." Tony replied, walking over to one of his many workbenches as he spoke. He picked up a strange looking mask, turning it over and playing around with some wires on the inside. Erik approached him.

"Got a new toy for me?" he asked, reaching for the mask, but Tony snatched it away.

"Personal project. No touching." He picked up a screwdriver, still doing something to the interior of the mask. "So nothing on the Joker then?"

"The Queen is scared of him." Erik gave Tony a look, which he returned, putting down the object in his hands.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. She's skipping town, probably long gone by now." Erik leant against the desk. "I think she panicked though, its been a few days now and nothing."

"I don't know Erik, he's got to be a hell of a something to have Her Majesty on the run. He's hit some big places already. He could be gearing up for something more." Tony said dubiously.

"Well he probably bloody will now!" Erik exploded, pushing off of the desk to pace the room. " It's the god damn papers. The Joker, it's fucking ridiculous. A name denotes notoriety, Tony. Now he's got this, there is no chance he's going to stop. He has a 'reputation' now, something to live up to. This is the worst thing those fucking tabloids could have done, especially if he's as fucking dangerous as the Queen thinks he is!"

Tony observed Erik for a moment, before looking away with a sigh.

"Definitely a telepath then?" he asked, leaning on his workbench.

"You were around for the Scarecrow. You know only a telepath can do something like that. It's partly why I came." Erik replied. "Would you have anything that could keep a telepath out?"

Tony shook his head.

"Your cowl is the best protection against telepathy that currently exists, or is ever likely to. Telepathy is a very hard thing to combat, it's why they're so strictly monitored, you know that."

Erik nodded, sighing.

"I suspected as much. I can hardly go around wearing the cowl twenty-four hours a day though. If he gets into my head whilst I'm being me, it's game over. I saw that kid Tony, this guy doesn't fuck about." Erik shuddered. "He broke him. The kid's mind was completely gone."

"Yeah I saw in the paper. His family are a little bit totally devastated." Tony replied, a little too blasé for Erik's liking, but he knew Tony well enough to know it was a front for how he was truly feeling.

Probably.

He stood up to leave, placing the keys for the bike down on the side.

"Drop her in the cave when she's done. I'm going for dinner with some executive or another until eleven, so I'll just see her when I get in." Erik said, walking to the door.

"You're presuming she'll be done by today." Tony said, although he was already filling his tool belt with the equipment he was going to need to fix the bike.

"I know she will." Erik grinned. "Will I see you at Shaw's rally on Sunday? I think your Chief of Police is going."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world then." Tony laughed, pulling a pair of work goggles down over his eyes.

"You know, it could be considered a conflict of interests pursuing him whilst working for the Batman." Erik said, pulling open the door.

Tony shrugged. "I've always been a sucker for a good tragedy."

Erik laughed at that, and left the workshop, smiling as he heard a drill powering up within seconds.

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Sunday's rally took far too long to come around in Erik's opinion, but it was finally upon him, and he was up at eight AM, adjusting a crisp new tie to go with the brand new Versace suit that he'd decided he'd needed, despite the nine only-worn-once that he had residing in his wardrobe. That was just the Versace's too, he had countless other big name suits that the price of which could probably have paid a good years rent for some people.

Erik tried not to feel too guilty about that.

"You've done and undone that thing fourteen fucking times Lehnsherr. You're only going to take it off and roll it up to go in your pocket an hour into this thing, so hurry the fuck up." Logan mocked, leaning on the wall across the room. Erik simply gave him the finger, smirked at him in the mirror.

"This Xavier must have been a fucking good lay, that's all I can say." Logan snorted.

He had been, Erik certainly wasn't going to deny it, but it was also concerning him on some level how attached he felt to Charles after barely twenty-four hours of knowing him. The whole of his week had been spent anticipating this day, and Erik now found himself more nervous than he'd been in years, probably since his childhood. He genuinely liked Charles, but he didn't particularly like feeling this way. There was distinct lack of control to his attraction to Charles that just didn't sit well with him.

"Shut up Logan." he muttered, doing up his tie for the fifteenth time and deciding it would simply have to do. Charles didn't seem shallow enough to judge him by the state of his tie anyway, but you could never be too certain with the upper crust. A grudge could be formed over the wrong type of canapé if you were not careful.

"I hope this guy is worth it, bub." Logan said, words mumbled around his unlit cigar. Erik could see his fingers itching to take a match from his pocket and light it, and he took a little satisfaction in knowing Logan's frustration was down to him. "I've seen you smitten and it ain't pretty. You cry."

Maybe more than little satisfaction.

"Go and get my car, lackey." He growled as he attached his cuff links.

Logan just smirked and left the room, the tell-tale smell of cigar smoke drifting through the door barely seconds later.

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Erik entered the function alone when he arrived. Erik Lehnsherr did not wait outside for anyone, though he had to admit he was sorely tempted. The room was decorated in blue sashes, and posters of Shaw's face smiling at him from seemingly every available wall space, varying from postcard size to one at the front of the room that was a good two feet taller than himself. Sebastian Shaw was not a man who was supposed to smile. There were children in this room that were not going to sleep well that night. Erik thought that he might not either.

Underneath every poster was the slogan 'I Believe in Sebastian Shaw.' Erik snorted as he retrieved a complimentary champagne from one of the waitresses. Like hell was he ever going to offer his support to a political campaigner with a God complex.

Speaking of God Complexes, apparently the Odinson's brothers were in attendance to the function, unsurprising given their status, but not desirable to Erik at the current moment. Thor was beginning to turn around, his brother having tapped him upon the shoulder and he would doubtlessly see Erik once he turned, and then there was every likelihood that he would end up talking business with Thor for a good hour, whilst the man clapped him painfully on the shoulder every five minutes and his peculiar younger sibling asked far too many ridiculous questions. He ducked into the crowd, resenting the press of bodies against his own, but worth it to avoid the talkative man for a while longer. He finally decided to linger by one of the long curtains on the opposite side of the room, providing him with a good view of the room with which to spot Charles, or avoid any unwanted social contact as necessary. He did catch a glimpse of Captain Rogers storming away from Tony, who caught his eye and winked before pursuing the fleeing man in a fashion that looked like he was not following him at all. Tony had an arrogant nonchalance down to a fine art that Erik sometimes envied.

"Hello again, Tall, Dark and Moody"

Erik turned to find a tall, slim woman with icy eyes and long wavy black hair stood at his side. He frowned at her for a moment.

"Have we met?" he asked. The woman laughed, before her skin rippled, and she was shorter and blonde. Raven.

"Raven. I didn't realise you were a shape-shifter." Erik said, dropping shoulders that he was not aware had even tensed. Raven smiled.

"It's my 'groovy mutation' as Charles would say. Ridiculous, yes, but that's Charles." she pulled at his arm. "He's waiting for you over at the bar."

He observed Raven curiously as she led him to Charles.

"I'm assuming you are not always this way then?" he asked, never one to mince words when it came to mutations, despite not being openly known himself.

"Oh no, I'm actually blue." Raven said, waving a hand dismissively. She grabbed a champagne as she walked along, downing it rather quickly and replacing the glass with another waiter.

"Charles doesn't like me to drink. I tend to lose control." she said, explaining despite Erik not having asked. He scowled.

"Why would that be a problem? You have every right to be yourself whenever you want Raven, not hiding away." he said, trying not to sound too irritated. Raven didn't seem to pick this up however.

"Oh I'm not hiding." she replied blithely "why should I be me when I can be anybody I want to be though? I spent all night as the President once, it was hilarious. I'll tell you about it sometime." She pulled Erik forward by his arm, almost sending him flying head first into Charles.

"Hello my friend. Fancy seeing you here." Charles laughed, before pulling Erik into a firm hug. He also placed a kiss to Erik's cheek that lingered a little too long. It was nothing astonishingly forward, but more than Erik was accustomed to from previous bed partners, and he was a little shocked. Then again, he didn't tend to see his bed partners again after their departure, so everything about the situation was rather unique. Behind them, Raven laughed.

"I'll leave you two alone." she said, before shifting into a curvy redhead with hazel eyes. "I am going to surprise Hank."

Charles frowned. "Leave the poor boy alone, Raven." he called, but she had already disappeared into the throng. He signed, before turning to Erik and smiling.

"I've been here an hour already ,Erik. I was beginning to worry that you might have left me out in the cold." he pouted, and Erik was immediately fixated on those astonishingly red lips.

"Now, do I seem like the kind of man to do that?" He replied, letting his hand linger on Charles's arm. It was ill-advised to be overly-affectionate at large functions where the paparazzi were likely to be lurking, but Erik couldn't help himself. Now that he had Charles within his sights, all he wanted to do was drag him to the nearest bedroom.

Unfortunately, he did actually have to represent Lehnsherr Corporations formally at the event. He was not averse to causing a scene, but Tony wouldn't be happy if he threw the company down the pan. All of Tony's best labs were part of Erik's property, for reasons beyond Erik's comprehension.

"I don't know, Erik, but I'd like to find out." Charles's shameless flirting probably should have been sleazy, but it was instead rather endearing. Erik began to wonder if he was in trouble here.

"Ah you must be Erik Lehnsherr!" Erik stepped away from Charles, who stood from his bar stool as they were approached by their host. Shaw was not as tall as Erik had expected. Emma generally liked her marks tall. He took the outstretched hand with a smile that was almost a grimace.

"And you must be District Attorney Shaw. It's a pleasure." Erik gritted out. He pulled Charles forward by the shoulder. "my companion, Charles Xavier."

"yes" Shaw replied. "We met earlier." A strange look passed between the two men, as well as strained smiles, and Erik found himself both curious and not wanting to know what had occurred between the two.

"I'm afraid I am obviously very busy today, but I just wanted to say it is an honour to finally meet you, Erik." Shaw said, that strange smile still present upon his face. "I knew your parents, Erik, and though we did not always see eye-to-eye, they were good people and I am overjoyed to finally meet their son and heir."

"I see." Erik stiffened the moment his parents were mentioned, only slightly soothed by the presence of Charles's hand on his arm. "I'm afraid they never mentioned you, Mr Shaw."

Shaw's smile dropped slightly. "Yes, well, you were obviously very young when they passed." Shaw plucked a drink from a nearby waitress. "I believe we have a mutual friend in Miss Emma Frost" he said, changing the subject with all the subtlety of a train through a tunnel.

"Yes, though I hear she has actually taken a long holiday recently." Erik replied. He was tiring of the conversation. Charles had apparently completely lost interest and was discussing alleles with a very perplexed barmaid.

"Yes, such a pity. She is a wonderful woman." Shaw said, before an awkward silence descended over the two. Erik could hear Charles nattering in the background.

"Well, I must move on, Erik, and it seems like you need to rescue that unfortunate barmaid from your companion there. It's been a pleasure." Shaw said, shaking Erik's hand firmly once more.

"Likewise." Erik replied, before Shaw disappeared into the crowd, and Erik led Charles away to a quiet corner. The barmaid mouthed a silent 'thank you' at him as he did so.

"Oh you spoilsport Erik!" Charles huffed, though obviously in jest. "I was educating that poor young girl."

"You were keeping her from doing her job." Erik said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Serving drinks is far less important than the human genome." Charles replied.

"Apparently, she didn't agree." Erik smirked, before leaning in to talking to Charles more privately. "However, I have done my duty here now, so what would you say if I were to suggest finding a less crowded bar, preferably one that you don't bring your sister too?" He raised an eyebrow in inquiry and Charles chuckled.

"Oh Erik. We were actually invited here too you know. Meeting with you was a delightful bonus I must say, but we would have been attending either way. You are right however, and I too have done as I need to here. Raven will fare well enough by herself, so I am more than willing to let you whisk me away to unknown places." Charles pulled a little at Erik's tie to pull him closer as he spoke, teasing him with the promise of a kiss, only to let him go at the last second.

"You are a cruel man, Charles Xavier." he said, leading Charles out of the building and retrieving his keys from the valet.

"You will grow to love it, I am sure." Charles said, climbing into the car.

Somehow, the bar turned into Charles's bar, which turned into Charles's bed, which turned into Erik not leaving until one AM that morning, sneaking out whilst Charles lay curled and naked upon the bed, his soft body and damp hair sticking to his forehead almost too enticing to leave. But Erik was the Batman first and foremost, and he had a patrol to go to.

Besides, Charles would always be there tomorrow.

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Besides having to run Alex and his gang off again, this time from spray painting walls, Erik's patrol was uneventful and he was more than convinced that Emma was being ridiculous over the 'Joker' situation. He also had no doubt she would be back and up to her old tricks as soon as she realised that it had all been silly hype. He didn't quite put it past her to tell him she was leaving town simply in order to pull off some kind of big heist, to be quite honest.

He woke up late the next day, around 3PM, feeling extraordinarily happy and incredibly indulgent for the first time in a long time. Monopolising on that feeling, he decided to treat himself to a very, very late breakfast at the nearest Denny's, ordering a large stack of pancakes that probably contained twice his daily calorie intake with all the maple syrup. He justified it to himself by reminding himself it also came with a small pot of banana on the side.

He had almost finished his meal when his phone rang, the caller ID displaying the rare name of 'Logan (Asshole)'. Logan was peculiarly reluctant to use any type of phone, for reasons Erik had been unable to discern, so if he was calling Erik, it meant it was important, and likely serious. Erik sighed, he knew that it couldn't last. It had been nice whilst it had though.

"What is it Logan?" He said, mumbling through a mouthful of pancake.

"Charles is gone."

The pancake dropped from Erik's mouth in a stodgy mess, abandoned as he got up and walked straight out of the diner, leaving a fifty dollar bill on the table without thinking about it.

"What do you mean he's gone?" He demanded, making his way to the car park as fast as he could.

"I mean that I have a hysterical blue girl sat in your living room crying over everything, some lanky nerd having a panic attack over by the window and your new boyfriend has fucking vanished off the face of the Earth." Logan growled down the handset. Erik reached the car, unlocking the car quickly and setting off.

"How do you know he hasn't just gone out early? Have they checked the labs?" He said, trying to keep his speed in check.

"No, they woke up this morning without checking any of these things and rushed straight over here to cry at me. They're not fucking stupid Erik. The room was trashed." Logan hesitated. "And there was a fair amount of blood in the room."

"Shit." Erik hit his fist at the wheel as he drove, his anger rising fiery and familiar. "Shit, shit, shit. No ransom note, no demands for his technology?"

"No." Logan sighed, obviously holding something back.

"Logan. Talk to me." Erik said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

"There was a Joker card left in the middle of the bed, Erik." Logan said, after a moments silence.

An image of Bobby at the library leapt into Erik's mind without bidding, and he was overcome with an encompassing feeling of dread.

Speeding back to the mansion managed to incur Erik three points on his licence thanks to speed cameras, but it all seemed trivial in his haste to return home.

He had to find Charles, before it was too late.


	5. Chapter 5

Erik stormed through the large front doors, immediately making his way to the living room where Logan and his guests were situated. Slamming the door open with rather more force than was necessary, the door handle left a neat, round hole in the wall, Erik walked into the room to find the slim, lanky man who had called Charles away the first time they met, apparently the mysterious Hank, and a completely blue Raven sat on his sofa, Raven sniffing but seemingly out of tears for the moment. Had it not been the dire situation that it was, Erik would have taken much time to appreciate Raven's natural form, but as it were he could only focus on Charles.

He turned to Logan, who was leaning against the wall by the window with one of his vile cigars hanging out of his mouth.

"What happened?" he demanded, the question not really directed at Logan, but anyone willing to give him an answer. "Did you not hear anything at all? You live with him!"

Erik didn't mean to raise his voice, it simply happened, but it was apparently too much for Raven, who scrunched her face before bursting into tears once more.

"I didn't come home last night!" she wailed "I stayed with Hank, and then when we got back to the apartment this morning, Charles was gone! It was a mess and there was so much. So much blood." Raven leant into Hank's waiting arms, voice hitching as she spoke. Hank himself said nothing, simply holding the girl, looking pale and drawn.

"Was the card the only thing that was left?" Erik knew he was being harsh, but he couldn't begin a search on such little information, and he just had to. The Joker might be a petty criminal, but he had taken someone special to Erik, and that was unforgivable.

Raven nodded meekly. "The room had been torn apart, but not like anyone was looking for something. Everything was broken or smashed. There was nothing to find even if they were looking though. Charles never kept anything of value in his room."

Hank frowned.

"Except himself."

Erik, Raven and Logan all looked at him expectantly.

"Charles is worth a lot of money, both in inheritance and thanks to our research. It could be a ransom, it could be someone wanting access to the projects. He has been highly sought after in the past, although he always turned them down. Some laboratories took it less well than others." Hank explained, still rubbing Raven's back soothingly. She nodded slowly as he spoke.

"Of course. If they'd killed him, they would have left him there." she said, hiccuping. "They must be after something."

"It's likely in these situations. I'm sure the police told you as much." The two nodded as he spoke, and he crouched in front of Raven, who looked at him through tear-swollen eyes that were purple rather than red. That was interesting. "The only thing you can do is wait for a ransom note. In cases like this, it never takes long. Wait and see what they want, and we will have Charles back as soon as we can."

He placed a hand on the shoulder that Hank was not holding, and smiled at Raven without showing his teeth. He'd been informed that it was unnerving.

"Go home and get some rest Raven, and you, Hank. This has all been very stressful for you, but I can assure you, I am going to do my best to help you through this." Erik's words sounded very steady to himself, considering that inside his rage was burning right to his core, and he was rather proud of himself for managing to project such an atmosphere of calm.

Raven hugged him when she stood, at which Erik just stood rather awkwardly, hands outstretched. The girl didn't seem to notice, or if she did, she didn't mind.

"Thank you Erik." She murmured. "I know you haven't known him long, but I know you care, and I know you are going to get him back for me."

After he closed the door behind them, Logan turned to Erik.

"Wait for the ransom note to come in? Really?" he scoffed, already making his way to the cave.

"I said they need to wait for the ransom note. I never said anything about me." Erik narrowed his eyes at Logan. "Now come on. I want to check all the security tapes within a five mile radius of the Xavier building, and I want a log of everyone who went in or out of that apartment block before I go out tonight."

Logan knew when to mess with Erik and when not to, and now was a definite 'Not'.

"You got it, bub."

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Erik and Logan's research had yielded little from the night. No-one entered the apartment block following Erik's departure that night, and Charles was not seen to leave the apartment once in the entire time between that point and his apparent kidnap. Erik was not surprised. He hadn't been expecting to see the assailant simply walk in and drag Charles out in full view of everyone, especially considering what Raven had said about the state of the room. It would have been obvious to anyone around that Charles was not leaving of his own free will, and as much as Erik hated to admit it, this Joker wasn't stupid. Old families such as Charles tended to have some kind of secret 'out' in case of emergencies, and he suspected the Xaviers were no different. A quick check of the buildings blueprints confirmed his suspicion.

"Well, we know how he was take at least." Logan said, swivelling his chair to face the other man. Erik wiped a hand across his face.

"Yes, but it hardly does us any good. He evaded all cameras, so we have no idea what direction he took him in. He might not even be in Gotham any more." Erik sighed.

"If he's still alive." Logan replied. Erik glared at him. "Oh right, we weren't voicing that, my mistake."

Erik glanced at his security camera for the grounds, before heading towards the slab under which his cowl and armour were concealed.

"I'm going out. I might learn something." He growled, pressing the button to bring his gear from beneath the surface.

"It's only just gone nine, Lehnsherr." Logan warned, standing and stretching his stiff back.

"I don't care. It's dark, so I'm going out." Erik pulled the uniform out, dressing as quickly as he was able to, considering the confining nature of his armour.

"I don't think this is altogether wise, I'm just sayin'." Logan shrugged. "I know Chuck was special to you and all, but old Rogers has still got it out for you. Last thing you need to be doing is running round the city half-cocked and getting yourself arrested. Your parents would have my head, you know, if they were around."

"Well they're not are they?" Erik ground out, pulling the cowl on. "You're my butler, not my babysitter Logan. Besides, like Rogers and his bunch of morons could ever catch me. Only one with half a brain there is MacTaggert, and even she hasn't figured it out yet." Erik walked briskly to his bike, swinging his leg over and dropping into the seat.

"Keep checking over the cameras Logan, make sure we didn't miss anything." Erik fired up the bike and rode out of the cave without waiting for a response.

Logan rolled his eyes, but did as he was bid, hoping he wouldn't be being called into identify a corpse any time in the near future.

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Erik had been around two hours into his early patrol when the bat signal appeared in the sky. Considering recent events, and the current attitude towards his person from Chief Rogers and District Attorney Shaw he had been certain he wouldn't be seeing it for some time, if ever. There was every possibility that it was a trap to lure him in and arrest him, but since it was generally only Commissioner MacTaggert who summoned him, he doubted that few, if any of the police force actually knew where the device was. It was a risk, but he could always check for an ambush beforehand. It was too risky to let it slide, especially in the light of what happened to Charles. It was unlikely related to Erik's current 'pet' case, but it wasn't worth the chance.

If it was anything to do with the Joker at all, Erik wanted in.

It didn't take him long to traverse the city to the location of the signal, pushing his bike to its limit to get him across Gotham. If this was important, he wanted to be there as quickly as possible, and if it wasn't he wanted to get it over with so he could continue his hunt, and check in with Logan for any updates on the situation, though minimal they might be. It didn't take long to evaluate that it was Commissioner MacTaggert was the one who has summoned him, surveying the rooftop carefully for any signs of other police interference before dropping down behind the waiting woman who, to his unending displeasure, was still not shocked by his sudden appearance.

"I'm surprised to hear from you again this soon." He said, keeping his voice low. "Especially with your Chief of Police after my head. I suspected some sort of ambush."

Moira frowned slightly. "I may not be able to assist you, but you know that you will never get that from me. I appreciate what you do, even though there has been less of a need of it in recent times." She hesitated. "I may get into some ructions for this, but I felt it was necessary. I suspect you will too, seeing as you have been patrolling the city since nine."

"There is something big coming Commissioner, I can feel it. You should be prepared." Erik replied.

"I fear it has already come." Moira sighed, then reached into her coat pocket, withdrawing a ratty piece of paper. As she unfolded it, Erik could see that there was a Joker card stapled to the right hand corner of the page and his stomach dropped as Moira handed it to him.

"What is this?" he asked, observing the page. There was a crudely drawn house, almost as though a child had created the piece, it was even done in crayons, and at the top of the house said HOME. The house itself was on fire, with a line of stick figures, presumably children streaming out of the house, some of the figures on fire themselves. It was rather macabre, and Erik scowled at the page before lifting the Joker card, seeing that there was writing on the back. It read ' Friday the 13th. 21.09' in large black letters, and nothing else. The date was for the following day.

"We don't know." Moira replied. " We received it an hour ago, brought in by a babbling ex-con who couldn't remember his own name, never mind where he came from or who gave him the page. Remembered to shoot himself in the head once he'd delivered it though." The woman grimaced. " Telepathic interference, just like Bobby from the museum, so there's no doubt it's definitely this 'Joker' person."

"What's the verdict then?" Erik asked, handing the page back to Moira, who folded it and put it back in her coat pocket carefully.

"We think he's going to hit one of the orphanages, it seems pretty obvious that's what he's saying at any rate." She ran a hand through her hair, obviously agitated. "Rogers doesn't want you involved, says we can handle it. We've already started the evacuation, getting the kids as far away as we can, but I don't like it. He's up to something, he wants a show. That's why he's giving us twenty-four hours notice. It's a risk going over Rogers head like this, but I would just feel more comfortable if I knew you were going to be there tomorrow, though if you could keep out of sight it would be highly appreciated."

Erik nodded once. "I will be there, you can count on that."

"I thought as much. I will be down on the ground with Rogers and the squad, he's hoping that he's going to be able to get the Joker before he starts to get out of hand, but..." Moira trailed off.

"He's just giving him the audience he's after." Erik finished for her, and Moira nodded in agreement.

"Rogers is a good man, but that's a large part of the problem. Everything has to be done by the book, and sometimes the book just doesn't cut it." Moira pushed herself off the wall, looking out over the city.

"No it doesn't. But that's where I come in."

Moira didn't turn around to reply, instinctively knowing that the Batman was long gone. She made her way down off of the roof, still apprehensive but her worries lessened knowing that the Batman was going to be present at their confrontation the following night.

It would be more than worth the reprimand she was likely to receive.

Erik sat on top of a building across from the main orphanage of Gotham the next day, although both the Girls orphanage and the Catholic children's home had also been evacuated and provided with a police blockage, though nothing to the extent of the primary Gotham Orphanage and Rescue Centre. Just as predicted, Chief Roger's blockade was ostentatious and organised, with a number of cars dotted around with their flashing lights and at least forty armed policemen lying in wait for the Joker to make his move, just far enough away that any kind of blast wouldn't cause them harm, should one occur. It was not made clear how the Joker intended to set fire to the building, and they couldn't afford to take any risks. They had searched the building during the evacuation, but of course, found nothing. With less than two minutes to go, the officers were clearly starting to feel on edge, glancing around them surreptitiously. Erik could see Commissioner MacTaggert at the front of the line, along with Chief Rogers and Lieutenant Coulson.

The Jokers audience had taken their seats, and the show was about to begin.

Erik steeled himself, watching as the clock on one of his many gadgets slid over from 21:08 to 21:09.

Only for nothing to happen. The police were looking around them, even Chief Roger's looking somewhat perplexed. Only Moira remained with both her eyes and gun locked on to the building, staunchly professional as ever. Something wasn't right, and Erik felt apprehensive as the seconds slowly ticked over, the minute about to end and roll over to 21.10.

Then, at 21.09.59, there was an explosion, barely a tremor under their feet as Gotham lit up behind them. Even from his high vantage point, Erik could hear as every single police radio began to sound, patching in to his own system even as he dropped down to the alley where he had stashed his bike, which he started up with a roar, causing a few officers to jump back in surprise when he shot from the dark alleyway.

"Logan!" He growled into his communicator. "What the hells happened?"

"They got it wrong." The other man immediately replied, his voice sounding stricken over the phone. "He's hit the old folks home."

Erik was incredibly thankful for his mask in that moment, because he could feel the blood drain from his face as he grew pale.

"Fuck!" He swore back at Logan, who made a noise of agreement. "I should have known it wouldn't be something so fucking obvious. I should have fucking known!" he raged, pushing his bike as fast as it would go.

"It's not your fault Erik, this guy is seriously a few tools short of a shed, but you've got to get there fast. The police are going to be too busy dealing with them old folks, well, the ones that are left, to worry about the Joker. You've got to get to him before he legs it." Logan said urgently, even as the building loomed into Erik's sight. It made him feel sick to the stomach to look at the quaint retirement home up in flames, but he brought his bike to a still, leaping from it and into the building without hesitation. Paramedics, fire-fighters and police were already at the scene, doing their best to rescue the pensioners from the flaming ruins, but the building looked to be coming down fast and they ignored the Batman as he ran past them, too preoccupied with getting as many people to safety as possible, and Erik made his way up to the third floor, aiming for the roof if he was able.

"Are you going into the building?" Logan said in his ear. "You're going in the building aren't you? For fucks sake Erik, I know I said to get to him but that place is going to come down any second! Do you really think he's going to be inside the damn place?"

"He's insane." Erik replied. "Of course he..."

Erik stopped speaking, coming to a halt as he noticed a figure standing across from him, a large expanse of collapsed floor preventing him from getting to the man he knew he was looking for, smoke from the burning debris preventing him from seeing the man's face or any discernible features, though he was able to make out that he was at least wearing a knee-length coat.

"Oh dear, Batman." The man spoke out to him, a hint of laughter in his voice. The way he spoke was strange, and it took Erik a moment to realise that the man was putting on a voice. He would not have been able to tell at all, had he not spent so much of his own time doing the exact same thing.

"Did we assume that I meant the orphanage in my little letter, did we?" the man continue. "One mustn't assume, Batman, or you'll make an ass out of you and me!" Erik could see the figure clasping his hands together as he trailed off into a high-pitched hysterical laughter, obviously greatly amused by his own joke.

Erik had never had a good sense of humour.

"Where is Charles?" he shouted, struggling not to choke on the smoke that was steadily filling the building.

"Hmm?" The man was pirouetting on one foot, slowly moving further away from Erik. Erik stepped forward, but the floor creaked dangerously under his step as he got closer to the hole in the floor. It wasn't going to hold for much longer. "I'm sorry, what was that Batty? I can't hear you that well, there are some sirens outside making a terrible racket!" The Joker trailed off into maniacal laughter once more. Erik could see himself tiring of this particularly gimmick rather rapidly.

"You heard me Joker!" he yelled, taking another wary step forward. "I won't say it a third time. Where is Charles Xavier?"

The Joker giggled, disappearing into the smoke, and Erik thought for a moment that he had lost him completely, when that strange, high-pitched voice echoed out of the smoke.

"Oh him! Why, I sliced his face open!" The laughter sounded once more, and Erik lost control, running to jump across the gap, intending to get to the fiend and throttle him until he told him where Charles was.

However, it was in vain, as the floor finally gave way as soon as he moved, and he went tumbling down into the fiery inferno of the building.

Erik landed badly, unable to turn in time and twisting his ankle awkwardly, though not breaking it to his great relief. He stood, looking up to where he had fell from, but knowing he was not going to be catching the Joker this night any longer. Angry at himself, he punched at a wall, which proved to be a mistake as it gave way under his fist easily, the fire consuming the building faster than ever.

He turned to run, only to hear that laughter once more. He looked up to see the silhouette of a head and shoulders above him.

"Have a nice trip, Batty?" The Joker called down. "Sorry I can't stay and natter, but I'm having something of a hot flush. I'll be seeing you around." He giggled as a beam fell, and Erik had to quickly roll to the side in order to avoid being crushed. "Or not. You might want to get a move on Batty, or you'll miss the grand finale. Honestly, it's going to bring the house down!"

With his final joke, the Joker vanished, leaving a cursing Erik trying to escape from the burning building, no longer able to discern whereabouts that he was within the Home.

He looked around frantically, holding his cape up in one hand to prevent it from catching a flame. He grimaced as he noticed the body of an old woman, still in her bed as though she were asleep, her wooden cane smouldering beside the bed. Even had she awoken, she'd had never had a chance in Hell and the hatred that Erik felt for the Joker increased tenfold.

Pushing his way through debris as quickly as possible, Erik finally found a window. Steeling himself, he tucked his head under his arms and ran at the glass, hoping there wasn't anything in his way when he came to land. Mercifully, he'd been lucky and rolled onto the soft grass, away from the intense heat of the building. The evacuation appeared to still be continuing, and a fire-fighter was about to try to enter the building once more. Erik quickly ran to stop him.

"That's enough. The buildings going to blow, you've got to get everyone as far away as possible." He demanded, dragging the man away. As if fate were not against him enough, he was suddenly knocked to the ground by a wave of force as the building exploded, dragging the fire-fighter with him. Trying to come to his senses as quickly as possible, he forced himself to his feet, dizzy but conscious, pulling the other man with him as he tried to get as far away from the collapsing building. They reached the line of the crowd, full of the emergency services, pensioners who had managed to escape and people who were just morbidly curious about the events taking place.

Erik felt an arm at his elbow, touching lightly and turned around to come face to face with Commissioner MacTaggert.

"I'm guessing from your appearance that you've not had the best night." She murmured. "But Rogers is on his way over here, so you might want to make yourself scarce."

Erik nodded, throat too sore to speak from his put-on Batman persona, and copious smoke inhalation. He removed her hand from his elbow gently and quickly made his way to the bike, riding off just as Rogers managed to elbow his way through the crowd, leaving the Chief glaring furiously at the Batman's quickly vanishing back.

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Logan was already stood waiting when Erik returned to the cave, wearing his 'I am pissed off' face.

"You're alive then?" He growled as Erik dismounted, pulling his cowl from his head, relishing the freedom finally allowed to his face.

"Not now Logan. I've not had the best night and I feel like death." He sighed, unclasping his cape and beginning to remove his armour.

"You ran into a burning building. You fucking deserve it, shit-for-brains." The other man admonished, walking over and grabbing his jaw tightly, moving his face around to check for injuries.

"Oh Logan, I didn't know you cared." Erik snorted.

"You fuckin' wish." Logan replied, letting go of Erik's face by way of shoving him roughly away. "If you die, I ain't got no where to live any more, that's all, bub."

Erik rubbed at his jaw, huffing.

"I'm going to bed. Make sure the tank on the Jag is full. I'm up early tomorrow, and so are you." Erik said, making his way out of the cave.

"Oh yeah, and why is that?" Logan said tartly, though he seemed to have lost some of his rancour and Erik generally assumed that meant he was mostly forgiven.

"We're going to visit the Xavier Facility, so let his sister know that we are coming too." Erik replied, closing the bookcase that acted as a door to the cave from his home.

"What's that going to achieve?" Logan asked. "I doubt they can tell us anything we can't figure out on our own, probably less than that actually."

"I want to know more about these people that head-hunted Charles, and to find out if his family had any enemies. He might have even pissed off some of the people he worked with. It's not much to go on, but we need to do something and it seems like the best place to start." Even as he spoke, Erik felt like he was grasping at straws, but he needed to do something, anything, that might provide him with some kind of clue as to why the Joker took Charles, and maybe even help rescue him.

Or avenge him.

They parted at Erik's doorway. It was unusual for Logan to follow Erik all the way to his room, but the other man was obviously concerned for Erik's health, even if he'd never admit it out loud. Erik was thankful for it after the stressful night, though he would never admit it either. It was probably why they made such a good team.

"Good night Logan. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Erik said, opening the door.

"Night Lehnsherr. Don't go dying in your sleep or some shit like that." Logan replied gruffly, walking away to his own rooms

Erik entered his room, more than ready to collapse into bed, but found once he was lying in bed, sleep did not come easily. He finally fell into an uneasy rest around five AM, his dreams haunted by fire, a dark figure and unending maniacal laughter.


	6. Chapter 6

Logan was already waiting by the Jaguar when Erik made his appearance at nine AM the next morning, keys in hand and a cigar clenched firmly between his teeth.

It was telling how much the strain was truly getting to Erik in that he didn't say a word when Logan climbing into the car still puffing away at the thing, simply sliding the car into car and roaring out of the garage.

They drove in silence for around twenty minutes before Logan grunted, and rolled the window down to dispose of the end of his cigar before turning to Erik.

"What we looking for then, bub?" he asked, already pulling another cigar out of his pocket. Erik's eye twitched as he noticed it, and Logan was glad to see it. It meant he hadn't lost him completely. Yet.

"Anything that might be useful. I want to talk to Charles's staff, learn more about him, his work and more importantly, the people interested in his work." Erik replied.

"I hate to break it to you, but from what you've told me, this Joker don't seem like any old hired lackey. This isn't how they work." Logan frowned. "Did he have any metal on him last night?"

Erik opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again, thinking. It would have been dangerous to be throwing things around in the quickly collapsing building with his powers, but now that he thought about it, he couldn't recall the Joker having anything that he was able to sense on his person.

"No. I don't think he did." He finally said. Logan nodded.

"He's always right across the city from where you are, he took Charles and he knows not to wear any kind of metal. He knows who you are, Erik." Logan's tone was grim, and wore the countenance to match. Erik sighed.

"I suspect as much myself, but that begs the question, why not just destroy my mind and be done with it?" Erik asked, pulling into the car park for the Xavier Facility, and finding a space for the car.

"He likes to play games? We know that much at least anyway. And as far as we know he's never been anywhere close to you as you are. Every time he's been in your vicinity, you have been wearing the cowl. Thank fuck for small mercies, I say." Logan spat as he climbing out of the car. Erik grimaced.

"Don't spit Logan, it's disgusting. These are professionals, I want them to let us in." Erik chastised, walking towards the door.

"Oh yeah? And how exactly are you going to do that, bub? Ain't got your precious Tony Stark to smooth talk us into in here." Logan replied testily as they entered the smooth automatic doors.

"I think I'll be fine. I've brought in a real live Neanderthal for them to study." Erik laughed.

Logan did not.

Erik in actual fact had no idea how he was going to gain access to the facility, but he was saved from bullshitting his way in by Hank McCoy approaching them as soon as they entered, lab coat swishing behind him.

"Mr Lehnsherr! I am surprised to see you here. How can I help you?" He said, glancing at Logan a little nervously.

"Yes actually, I was hoping that we might be able to look around the facility, talk to the staff a while, learn a little more about Charles and any possible enemies he might have had." Erik said, nonchalantly to the eyes of anyone surrounding him, excluding Logan, who took in the gritted teeth, clenched fists and steely eyes silently, knowing Erik was still very much on edge.

Hank looked around himself a little, struggling for an answer.

"Not that we don't appreciate the help Mr Lehnsherr, I know that Raven does definitely, but the police have already been in and questioned everybody in the facility. I know you are doing your best to help us, but perhaps this is something better left to the authorities now?" Hank suggested meekly. Erik snorted.

"I am conducting something of an investigation of my own. I mean no offence at all, but I have little faith in the Gotham Police Force." Erik replied. Hank shuffled on his feet a little.

"One moment please, Mr Lehnsherr." the lanky man darted off to the desk where another two scientists were stood watching the exchange, looking curious and a little confused. Hank picked up a phone, dialling quickly. He was not on the phone for long before he returned to Erik and Logan.

"Raven says to allow you to do as you wish, and you are free to talk to anybody within the facility. I am to accompany you." Hank began to lead the way to the elevator before turned around once more. "Um. Please don't touch anything?" It was more a question than a command, and Erik rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe this was Charles's right hand man.

"You have our word." He replied stonily. "Please, lead the way Doctor McCoy."

The two men followed Hank into the elevator and he took them up into the Xavier Facility.

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Erik and Logan spent most of the day talking to the apparently endless employees at the Xavier Facilities, but it was to no avail.(Or rather, Erik did and Logan got increasingly more agitated about the facilities no-smoking policy). It seemed that Charles was almost universally loved by everyone he encountered. Even the enemies that Hank had spoken of the morning after Charles's disappearance were not actually known to actively hate him. It seemed even when Charles rejected purchases and offers of work or partnerships, he went out of his way to make it up to the offended party, resolving any conflicts before they truly had time to form.

Hank took the two men up to Charles's personal labs, allowing them to sift through his desk, glancing at papers that neither of them could truly make head nor tails off, but nothing that seemed relevant to his disappearance. Erik sighed, straightening up. He opened his mouth to speak when his eye caught a strange looking device, about half his height propped against a wall.

"What is that?" He asked Hank, curious. Hank turned around, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Oh, that was Charles's pet project, the Cerebra. He never managed to finish it before he vanished." Hank said, somewhat dejectedly.

"Cerebra?" Logan frowned. "That wouldn't be anythin' to do with Cerebro would it?"

Hank looked a little apprehensive.

"Well in theory it would have been transportable version, for localised tracking. More powerful bursts across a smaller terrain. Good for finding missing persons, those with stronger telepathic resistance and such other instances." Hank explained, wringing his hands.

"So just as illegal then?" Erik replied, folding his arms across his chest.

"Technically speaking, yes, but it was never going to be taken beyond the initial testing phase and then it would be destroyed. We hadn't managed to get it working yet though. The technology is proving more difficult to size down that we initially assumed." Hank replied, somewhat defensively.

"Then why bother doing it, if you're going to destroy it afterwards?" Logan shot back, obviously still unconvinced.

"To see if we could." Hank said, more confident than he had been in the entire time the two had been with him. "Science is about pushing the boundaries, Mr Howlett, seeing just how far we can go."

"Some places you just ain't meant to go, and my head is one of them." Logan growled, and Hank shrunk away.

"Is it not possible this is what the Joker wants?" Erik asked. "We know he's a telepath, and this thing could be lethal in the wrong hands."

Hank shook his head. "Of course not. Besides you now, Charles and myself are the only people who even know of its existence, and even if he did somehow know about it, its not operational. We just couldn't figure it out."

Erik looked at the machine for a while longer, before nodding.

"Well I believe we are done here." He said somewhat dejectedly, having uncovered nothing. "Thank you for your time, Hank."

Hank led the way to the elevator on the top floor, when they passed by a room Erik was certain that he had not seen before. There was a door leading inside it, and the room was entirely visible through a large pane of glass that made it's front wall. Well, it was entirely visible in theory. The room was actually completely obscured by a number of plants, the abundant greenery taking up almost all of the space within the room. Through the various plant life, Erik could just about see someone moving around inside, a young woman.

"Who is that?" Erik asked, pausing and pointing at the glass room. Hank peered inside.

"Oh Angel is here. I didn't think that she was in today." He replied. "She's carrying out some genetic experiments on dragonflies, or something similar I believe. I am not too involved in that side of things. Did you want to speak to her? Charles left this project pretty early on. They haven't spoken properly in a while, so I don't know how helpful she'll be."

Erik nodded. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to speak to her briefly all the same."

Hank nodded, and knocked upon the door, waiting some moments before the young woman came to the glass, looking a little disgruntled at the disturbance. Hank gestured for her to come out, and she scowled, but opened the door and stepped outside, closing the door behind her with great care. She was a petite woman, with dark skin and long dark hair that was tied back out of the way in a loose ponytail, holding a small watering can in her hands.

"What do you want Hank? I'm in the middle of something really big here." She said agitatedly, but her eyes narrowed when she looked to Erik, smiling slyly.

"Hello there, sugar. I don't think we've met." She offered her hand. "Angel Salvadore, Geneticist."

Erik grinned in return. "So I have been told." he shook her outstretched hand. "Erik Lehnsherr, it's a pleasure to meet you. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about Charles Xavier, and what it is that you do here."

Angel looked to Hank, who shrugged a little. Logan leaned back against the wall to observe the conversation.

"I didn't know Charles all that well, we worked together for a little while on the Dragonflies, but then he moved onto something else, never told me what. That wound me up a bit, but he let me carry on using his facility, so no biggie. Heard he's gone missing, poor guy. Hope he makes it back okay." Angel sounded genuinely concerned, and Erik doubted she would have much more to tell him.

"So you and Charles did work together on a project?" He asked, desperately hoping for anything that might be of use, having yielding nothing all day. Angel nodded, leaning all her weight onto one foot.

"We were looking into the various uses of the multifaceted eyes of the dragonfly, I was hired because I have something of an 'affiliation' with them." The woman's eyes had lit up with the spark of someone with a true passion for their work "It really is quite fascinating. I'm still performing series of tests right now, it's difficult to extract all the data I need without harming the darlings, but my progress has been coming in leaps and bounds lately. I'm trying to extend my environment to accommodate other types of insect. It's unbelievable what they can do, and we have only begun to scratch the surface, so many species are yet to be discovered..."

Hank interrupted her with a cough, and Angel smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry, I get carried away when it comes to my babies."

Logan raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing. He was rolling a cigar in his fingers, obviously desperate to get outside. Erik decided to be mean.

"Why so many plants then, Miss Salvadore?" he asked, smirking in Logan's direction. The other man scowled.

"I want my babies to have the best environment possible, Mr Lehnsherr. I'm not going to find out any thing from my darling insects unless they are completely happy. I have plants flown in from all over the world to keep them content. I've already taken them out of their natural environment, which is heartbreaking enough. The least I can do is make the comfortable." Angel replied, waving her watering can around somewhat haphazardly. Erik was starting to get the impression that her bugs were somewhat dear to her, perhaps overly so.

To be honest, she came across as a little obsessive, and Erik decided to take his leave.

"Well, I shall let you get back your bugs, Miss Salvadore." He said, stepping away in order to leave. Angel's eyes narrowed.

"Insects, Mr Lehnsherr. Insects. Bugs denotes that they are considered pest-like, a nuisance and I can assure you that my babies are nothing of the sort." She replied venomously, her entire demeanour changing in an instant. Logan raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, I am so sorry." Erik looked to Hank, who shook his head in warning. "Goodbye, Miss Salvadore. It was a pleasure."

"And you, Mr Lehnsherr." Angel said coldly, returning to her overgrown lab, her initial flirtatiousness having completely vanished at the perceived slight.

"Sorry about that, Mr Lehnsherr." Hank apologised as they made their way to the elevator. "Angel is rather passionate when it comes to her insects."

"So I can see." Erik replied distractedly. The trip to the facility had been a total loss, and he was trying to think of his next effort, but was struggling to think of what his next course of action could be.

They left the building quickly, thanking Hank for his hospitality. Logan led the way, lighter already in hand, sparking up as soon as they were outside.

"Thank fuck for that." He breathed, smoke billowing from his mouth and nose. "So, what's the plan of action now."

"Home. You drive, Logan. I need to think." Erik replied curtly. Logan nodded, sensing that a dark mood had descended upon his employer once more.

The drive back to the mansion was made in silence, and on his return Erik locked himself into the Bat cave, not emerging until it was time for him to leave on his patrol.

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It was a quiet patrol for a large portion of the night. Erik did not expect anything big to happen following the Joker's attack on the residential home. He'd want to let it soak in, get people nice and scared before his next strike, and so the most that Erik encountered was petty theft and muggings, easily taken care of the and perpetrators left with a broken nose, wounded pride and tied up ready and waiting for the police to take away and deal with.

He found himself thinking on Logan's conclusions from earlier in the day, particularly his almost solid theory that the Joker knew who he was. If it was correct, and the Joker was aware of Erik's identity as the Batman, it was a given that the Joker had some sort of plan for him, or he would have melted Erik's brain into so much mush by now. He'd already made it clear that he liked to play games, and wanted to play one with the Batman.

Erik had never been one for games.

He drove around for sometime, checking his watch to discover it was around two AM. The night had remained relatively quiet, and he was debating getting back home early for once. Logan would appreciate it he imagined, though he might not express it out loud.

He was just preparing to turn around and head home, when he noticed a group of youths ahead, spray painting graffiti onto a wall. It would normally not concern him, but the subject of their artistic masterpiece caught his attention.

They had sprayed a large joker face, identical to the one that appeared on the card deck the Joker used onto the wall. Enraged, Erik rode his bike towards the group, who scattered when they realised that he was approaching. As he got closer he could see they were all wearing cheap clown masks, the kind available in most party shops. There was something sinister about the poorly made masks when coupled with the hoodies and dark jeans that the youngsters were prone to wearing.

He pulled to a stop in front of the wall, looking up at the work in disgust, when he realised one of the youths had not escaped. Instead, he was stood there staring at the Batman, waiting for him.

"You have five seconds to run before I beat the crap out of you kid." Erik growled menacingly, slipping from his bike. He wasn't accustomed to threatening kids, but this was simply too much.

"Hold up there, Batman." a familiar voice called. "I think you're going to like this."

The kid reached up to pull the mask from his head, revealing blonde hair and bright eyes.

"Alex?" Erik said in surprise. "what the hell are you playing at? Do you know how dangerous it is to get involved with this guy?"

Alex held up his hands defensively, the offensive mask waving in one. "Hey, hey I know. I knew Bobby, man. That's messed up, but I thought you might appreciate this when we got the offer."

"Appreciate what?" Erik narrowed his eyes at the boy, who smirked and dropped his hands.

"He hired us to do this." Alex said smugly. "I know where his base is, and I can take you there, tonight."


	7. Chapter 7

After calling in to Logan what had come to light, Erik rode across the city as fast as he could, Alex holding onto his waist from the back of the bike in a death grip, giving directions as best he could through the speed of the passing air and his own fear.

When they finally arrived at the abandoned warehouse Alex had directed him too, the young boy couldn't have dived off the bike faster if he had tried, leaning heavily against the wall as he dry-heaved. Erik rolled his eyes beneath the mask.

"You alright, kid?" he asked, securing the bike just out of sight. Alex held a hand over his mouth for a moment, but giving Erik a thumbs up all the same.

"Went out for pizza and milkshake before the Joker called us here. It's not agreeing with the whole high velocity thing we just had going on. I'll be cool, man." Alex replied, straightening up. "Come on, he was just in here."

Erik patched through to Logan. "Have you got our location?" he asked, careful not to mention Logan's name. Logan replied to the affirmative.

"You're going to want to be quick though, bub." he said warningly. "From what I can tell from the Police scanner there is a two-man team in the area. Someone's called this in already. It could just be someone worried about the group of kids hanging out in the Dock's warehouse unit, but personally I'd say you're walking into a trap."

Erik grimaced. "Yes, I'd already assessed as much, but like you said, he's playing games. I think the only thing to do right now is to play along."

"Who are you and what have you done with my boss?" Logan snorted through the communicator. Erik laughed, prompting Alex to turn and look at him.

"I've never said I was adverse to cheating." Erik replied, smirking. "I'll stay in touch."

He dropped his arm, and gestured towards the abandoned warehouse.

"Lead the way Alex."

Alex nodded, before pushing his way through a gap in the fence, holding it back for Erik as he took great care not to snag his cape on the protruding wires. The boy led the way into the dank building with a flash light he had procured from a pocket of his baggy hoody. Rats scattered into the walls as he and Erik entered the large room, which turned out to be empty except for some leaflets advertising some kind of event at the pier, soaking up questionable looking rainwater, and some wooden pallets stacked at intervals around the room, many rotting in the damp atmosphere.

Alex kicked at a piece of rotten wood in frustration, sending it flying across the room.

"I don't get it! He was right here, less than two hours ago!" he yelled. "He was right here. He never said his name, but he asked us to paint that stupid thing, and he had white make-up all on his face and I knew. I knew it was him." He stopped his tirade and turned to Erik, suddenly looking incredibly lost and very young.

"I just wanted to do something useful for once." he finished helplessly, arms falling to his sides.

Erik places a firm hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Don't worry Alex, you did good. You tried, and that's what matters." he comforted "I appreciate the effort, even if it did mean you put yourself in danger."

It had been somewhat surprising not to have ran into some sort of trap or ambush, but it was possible that the police had simply been called due to Alex and his gang loitering in the area, and ran the Joker off before he could put whatever twisted plan he'd managed to concoct into motion.

Erik couldn't help his disappointment though. Each time he lost the Joker he was one step further away from finding Charles, if he was even still alive by now. Erik was beginning to lose hope that the other man was still with them at all.

"Come on Alex. We had better get you out of here if the police are snooping around. I'll take you back to fifth..."

Erik was cut off as there was a loud crash, the distinctive sound of shattering glass, followed by a cry that was quickly cut off by a thud. Silence followed.

Erik looked to Alex just as the boy looked to him before running into the adjoining warehouse where the commotion had emitted from, stopping almost instantly however at the sight that greeted them.

The glass panelling that made up the vast majority of the warehouse roof had a gaping hole in it, presumably caused by the body that now lay in the middle of the warehouse. Moonlight shone down on the broken form, glinting off of the blood that oozed around the body and from the surrounding shards of glass.

Bruising and the odd position of the body indicated a broken neck, but as Erik and Alex drew closer, they could see that the man had been stabbed a number of times to the torso, hence the abundance of blood that surrounded the man, which couldn't possible have been caused by the injury to his head alone. He wore a police uniform, obviously one of the two man team sent to investigate the area. Erik wondered where the other one might be.

"Shit." Alex whispered, face pale as he moved around the dead man. "Jesus, I think I know this guy. He tried to haul me in a couple of times. Cobbler, or Carson, something like that."

"Coulson." Erik replied grimly. He hadn't know the man especially well, but he'd been pretty useful once or twice, when the police had still been mostly on the Batman's side, and he was a good guy, if a little stiff.

"Fuck, look at his face." Alex gasped.

Erik knelt and turned the dead man's face towards him, turning away when he saw the horrible grin that the man's face was contorted into, far too wide to be considered anything near natural.

He did not deserve this. Erik stood, brushing his hands against his thighs.

"Where are you Joker?" he yelled, growl echoing around the cavernous room. "I know you are still here, now come out and face me, you coward!"

He gestured to Alex to come nearer, and the boy did so quickly, doing his best to stop himself from shaking.

"Stay close to me, Alex." He murmured, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder briefly.

"Joker!" he shouted once more. "Come out now!"

The unmistakable sadistic laugh echoed around the warehouse, and Erik grimaced as it faded slowly.

"Temper, temper, Batty." The Joker laughed, his voice seemingly coming from nowhere. Erik scanned the dark room as quickly as possible, but was unable to determine where the man might be.

"Patience is a virtue, didn't you know?"

Erik pulled Alex to him, pointing at a door on the other side of the warehouse. He didn't dare speak to him for fear the Joker would hear. It was all in vain however.

"Ah, ah, ah, Bat brain. Dear little Alex there stays right by you, or his brain becomes only so much mush rolling around in that skull of his." The Joker hissed, suddenly sounding a lot closer. Alex trembled beside him. Erik couldn't really blame him.

A shadow fell over the two, and they looked up to see the Joker standing right above them, at the edge of the broken glass.

"Sorry about my little indiscretion there, but it's awfully inconvenient having the piggy's wandering around and I can't have them getting all involved in my business now, can I? I was awfully lucky that he and his partner split up, a double homicide on Gotham's finest is just bad manners."

The Joker crouched at the edge of the glass, long coat splayed out behind him and face shadowed.

"He put up an awfully good fight, mind you. It did mess up my little get-together somewhat. I can hear the police sirens now, and I can assure you that they were certainly not invited to the party."

True enough, Erik could hear the Police sirens. It would be mere minutes until they arrived. Logan's voice crackled through the communicator.

"I dunno what the hell is going on in there, bub, but you got half of Gotham's finest headed right your way, including our bestest buddy Chief Rogers." he warned. "You might want to consider a 'tactical retreat'."

He vanished from the communication system once more, and Erik returned his full attention to the Joker.

"What have you done with Charles, and what do you possibly hope to achieve from all this?" He demanded "Why are you doing this?"

The Joker chuckled down at him and Erik struggled to discern a little of his face as he moved in the moonlight, but to no avail.

"Why not?" he replied simply.

"You cannot kill people just because you think that is it fun!" Erik yelled in return, anger welling up inside him at the blatant disregard for life.

"On the contrary, I think you will find that I already have. You shouldn't give such mixed messages Batty, a guy could get confused. It's hurtful."

There was a screech from outside as the Police arrived, causing the Joker to leap to his feet, the glass cracking warningly beneath his feet.

"Well, that would be my queue to leave. It's been a pleasure, Bat face, we really must do it again soon." he grinned down at the pair below him, his teeth the only thing visible on his shadowed face.

"Tatty-bye!"

With that, the Joker ran.

"Fuck!" Erik swore, just as Chief Rogers and his men burst into the adjoining warehouse. Erik gripped Alex by the shoulders.

"I've got to go after him, and I won't be coming back. They've got nothing on you, just don't antagonise them and they'll have to let you go by sunrise." he said, gripping the boy tightly.

"Whatever, man." Alex replied, shrugged Erik off. "I can take care of myself, just go get that freak."

Erik stared at Alex for a brief moment, before grinning and using his Bat claw to follow the Joker out of the warehouse, looking down just in time to see the Police bursting in, Alex dropping to his knees with hands behind his head and smirk on his face and turning away just in time to avoid the bullet Major Romanov fired at his head upon seeing Coulson's body.

Alex smiled to himself knowing that the Batman had gotten away, even as he was forced to place his head against the ground by the surrounding police force, his wrists quickly locked into handcuffs.

"Let him up." A firm voice said, and footsteps approached him as he was pulled to his knees. A tall man crouched down in front of him, removing his police hat to reveal blonde hair.

"My name is Steve Rogers, I am the Gotham Chief of Police. What's your name, son?" He said carefully. Alex snorted.

"I know who you are, dude, and I'm not your 'son'. Don't even bother with the 'Good cop' thing, just send me straight to the 'Bad cop' and let's get it over with." he replied, sneering at Chief Rogers.

This probably counted as antagonising, but Alex had never been very good at doing what he was told.

Another set of footsteps approached, and a woman with brown hair crouched down besides Rogers. She was wearing plain clothes, so Alex assumed some sort of detective. He'd never met her before in his varied life of street crime at any rate.

"Hello there kid. I'm Commissioner MacTaggert. We don't mean you any harm, and once you answer our questions, I promise you'll be free to go." She stood up, and gestured for the men flanking Alex to pull him to his feet. "As I'm sure you're aware, Lieutenant Coulson was a dear colleague and friend to many of us." She gestured vaguely to where the Lieutenant's body lay, now concealed under a white sheet by the forensic team that had seemingly formed out of thin air. "We just want to know what happened here..." Chief Rogers quickly cut her off.

"I think, Commissioner, that it is pretty obvious what happened here. The Batman has finally gone rogue, which I can assure you has been a long time coming. No good can ever come of a vigilante."

He scoffed, fixing Alex with a stern look. "If you cooperate, we can bring him in before this happens again."

"No fucking way, man!" Alex protested "It was the Joker who killed that Coulson guy, he threw him right through the window. Batman wasn't even in the room when it happened!"

Moira turned to Chief Rogers, a stern look on her face.

"We cannot go throwing allegations around wildly, Rogers." she admonished.

"The Batman was here when we arrived, standing right over the body. This Joker, however was nowhere to be seen. It is the only reasonable conclusion to come to, and I suggest that you tell us the truth right now, young man, or I'm going to have no choice but to bring you down to the station as an accessory to murder." He stared at Alex firmly, but the boy just stared back.

"I've told you the truth, man. Can't tell you no more than that. The Joker killed Coulson, Batman went after him. End of."

Roger's sighed, and signalled to his men. "You two, outside, guard the perimeter and make sure no-one comes inside." he pointed at another two. "You two, in here. Anything forensics wants, you get. MacTaggert, you and me are taking this one down the station for questioning. I'll meet you there, bring him in your car. Romanov, with me."

A red-headed woman who was apparently Romanov looked to Rogers. "But sir.."

"No buts, Romanov. You and Coulson split up, and it cost him his life I need you debriefed immediately, and I'm afraid there may be disciplinary action. Now, back to the station."

Romanov looked to her feet briefly, before looking up, eyes steely. "Yes, of course Sir."

With that, Rogers and Romanov left the room, and MacTaggert took hold of Alex's arm as she led him out to her car.

She was quiet until they began to drive, Alex leaning heavily against the seat and watching MacTaggert carefully through the metal grill that separated them.

"For what it's worth, kid." She said after some time, startling him out of his stupor. "I don't think the Batman killed Lieutenant Coulson."

Alex grinned.

"Well, at least one pig isn't a total idiot."

Moira smirked. "Keep that up and you certainly aren't going to endear yourself to Chief Roger's at all."

"Chief Rogers can suck it...Ma'am." Alex replied, grinning back at her.

Moira laughed, the rest of the drive to the station passing in silence. She had no idea who this kid was, but Batman certainly knew how to pick his allies.

Alex kept up his story all night, simply retelling the same tale over and over whenever Rogers tried to persuade him to betray the Batman, or sent in another officer to do the same. He was tired, and hungry, the station only allowing him a cup of water over the night. He briefly wondered if they were trying some sort of subtle torture, but he figured MacTaggert would have never allowed that.

She remained with him the entire time they were questioning him, not speaking, just sitting at the side of the room. The whole time he was there she didn't say a word, though she grew steadily more tired looking, and Alex found himself wondering just how long she'd been working.

He was thankful for her presence though. Even if somewhat dubiously, she supported the Batman, and that made her okay as far as he was concerned. She also had a watch on, which was incredibly useful since they'd confiscated his phone which was the only way Alex ever told the time. The interrogation room lacked a clock, which was probably some psychological bullshit that he didn't care about.

Finally, the hands on MacTaggert's watch came to six AM, and she stood and walked over to the table where an Inspector Hill was trying to get Alex to say that the Batman killed Coulson for the fourth time.

"Six AM, Hill." Moira said, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder. "We can't hold him any longer."

Hill nodded, stopping immediately once her superior spoke to her, standing and leaving the room.

Moira removed the cuffs from Alex's hands.

"How you holding up?" She asked, leading him from the room. He kept close to her as she led him through the station. He didn't get how she found her way so easily, the place was like a labyrinth.

"Tired, hungry, could well do with a shower. Gross as hell." Alex replied wearily. Moria smiled back at him, her face looking as worn as he felt.

"I know the feeling." She brought him out to the front of the station, where Rogers glared at them, but said nothing, just sliding some papers over to the Commissioner.

"Sign here, here and here." She directed, pointing to the appropriate spots as she spoke. "And you're free to go. Do you want someone to drive you home?"

Alex signed the documents, and shook his head. "Nah, I'm good. I'll make my own way, but thanks all the same."

Moira nodded, and walked him to the front of the station.

"You did good you know." She said "He'd be proud of you."

Alex didn't know what to say, so he simply shrugged in response. Moira smiled.

"Hopefully I won't be seeing you again, Alex. Goodbye." She waved and walked back into the station, and Alex began the trek home.

He was more than ready to collapse when he returned to the crappy little bedsit, the thin mattress he own had never looked so appealing. He was shocked into alertness however, when his little brother came running up to him, which what looked like a substantial amount of money in his chubby hands. He picked him up, scowling and Scott hugged the money to his chest defensively.

"Where did you get that, Scotty?" He asked sternly. He'd always tried his best to teach Scott to be good, he didn't want him to ever end up like Alex, and if he'd started stealing, it meant Alex had failed.

"A man brought it!" Scotty replied eagerly. "I know I'm not s'posed to answer the door to strangers, but I only opened it with the chain on. He had a big cigar and he said it was a present" Scott bounced in Alex's arm's excitedly. "He said it came with condiments from the Batman."

"I think you mean 'Compliments'" Alex said, somewhat dazed as he took the money from Scott's hands. There was almost one thousand dollars in the boy's grip, and looking to where he'd been playing, there was at least a couple more. Enough to keep Alex and Scott living comfortably for a good couple of years, if they managed it sensibly.

"I guess there is something in this 'upstanding citizen' stuff after all." Alex said, mostly to himself as Scott mouthed at a one-hundred dollar bill, which the older boy hastily removed from his drooling mouth.

"Hey Scotty. Do you want to go get breakfast at the Diner?" He asked. Scott's eyes lit up in excitement, though there was still some wariness.

"I thought you said we don't have enough money to go to the Diner." he mumbled.

"We do today champ. Batman's treating us." Alex replied, grinning.

Scott clapped his hands happily, giggling as they left the bedsit and despite his dirty, tired state, Alex was happier than he'd felt in a long, long time.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - – - - - - - - - - – - - - - - - - - - - – - - - - – - - - - - - –

Erik awoke early the next day sore and tired, having not gotten nearly enough sleep, although that was a normal state of affairs for him. The soreness came from a badly timed leap, which resulted in him tumbling to the ground awkwardly after falling through a weak area of roofing as he hunted for the Joker on the rooftops.

He'd managed to follow him to a warehouse rooftop two over from where the other man had killed the police officer, but then he disappeared behind a large venting system and on following him round there, he had seemingly vanished, Erik completely unable to detect the man. What followed was the leap to another building, hoping for a better vantage point which actually resulted in falling twenty feet into another warehouse, landing badly and into some rather foul smelling substance some of the abandoned machinery had oozed out across the floor.

He made his way slowly down the stairs, joining Logan silently at the breakfast table, where the man pushed a large cup of coffee at him. He sipped it, finding it made exactly to his tastes and he closed his eyes in contentment.

"Thank you, Logan." he muttered. The other man just nodded, looking at his toast for a moment before pushing a paper at Erik.

Erik knew this wasn't going to be good.

He unfolded the paper, looking at the headline on the front page; 'POLICE CHIEF CALLS MANHUNT ON BATMAN – MAYOR PROVIDES FULL SUPPORT.'

Underneath was a picture of Chief Rogers and Sebastian Shaw, shaking hands whilst looking out at the photographer. Roger's didn't look very happy to be in contact with the other man.

"Since when has Shaw been Mayor?" Erik asked, snatching a piece of Logan's toast.

"Since yesterday, not inaugurated yet of course, you have an invite to that by the way. The votes were on whilst we were at the Xavier Facility. I thought you knew." Logan bit into his toast. "Kind of missing the point though, bub." He tapped at the word 'Manhunt'

Erik snorted, folding the paper and throwing it back at the table.

"It was going to happen eventually. Roger's has been after my head for a while, you know that."

"I don't think this is the same. The Joker is up to something big, Erik, and you can't rely on Police support any more if something goes wrong. We don't even know if the Commissioner is in on this or not. Unlikely, but you never know. Everyone's after you now, everyone is an enemy." Logan waved his toast as he spoke, crumbs flying from his mouth. Erik wrinkled his nose at the action.

"Well I am just going to have to be more careful then aren't I?" he replied agitatedly. "I've not been caught yet, I'm sure I can managed this. Stark is still on my side for a start, I'll see if he has anything that will provide an easier escape should I need it, and if it comes down to it, I'll just crush the police cars."

"You can't keep relying on gadgets and your powers, one day they're going to fail you and then you'll be up shit creek without a paddle." Logan argued back, standing from his seat. Erik glared at him.

"What would you have me do Logan? Quit?" He snarled.

"Yes." Logan said abruptly.

"What?"

"Quit. For the time being, until it all blows over. The Joker can't play games with someone who isn't around. Get out of Gotham, go to the house in Panama for a few months, let the Gotham police force actually deal with this damn city for once." Logan spoke vehemently, barely stopping for breath and simply staring at Erik once he was done.

"I can't, Logan." Erik sighed, closing his eyes and pinching his glabella.

"Why? This damn city isn't worth it, not worth your fucking life, bub. They've had enough out of you. Let them deal with this one on their own." Logan protested, sitting down once more.

"And just leave Charles to the Joker? He's a madman, and I know it's a minuscule chance, but if he's alive, I'm going to save him." Erik looked down at his hands as he spoke, sounding wearier than he had in months.

"And what then?" Logan asked, voice low. "What if he's not? Even if he is, you can't carry on like this forever. You deserve a life, you stupid bastard."

Erik finally met Logan's eyes once more.

"I'll cut you a deal. I'm going to stop the Joker, and I'm going to find Charles, or at least find out what happened to him. Then it's over, I promise."

Logan narrowed his eyes. "For good?"

Erik nodded. "When this is over, I will retire the Batman for good."


	8. Chapter 8

Attending the Mayor's inauguration was the last thing that Erik wanted to be doing, but with no news a week later and the Joker having apparently gone underground again, Logan wanted Erik to do something outside of the house that didn't involve being pursued by Gotham's finest, who really had stepped it up once they'd been given official orders to take down the Batman.

Of course, they'd been nowhere close to catching Erik, particularly as slowing their speeding, metal cars was a relatively easy task. There had been one close call with a bullet, one out of one hundred that had managed to slip Erik's notice. It had barely grazed his right bicep, but had led to a rather thorough chewing out from Logan, even as the other man stitched him up.

The wound was itching as it healed and Erik struggled not to scratch at it through his suit sleeve as Mayor Sebastian Shaw spoke on stage about how happy he was to be there, and the good that he intended to do for Gotham City. Erik yawned indiscreetly, moving his arm around and clenching his fists as he tried to ignore the injury. The last thing he needed was questions about why he was bleeding through his suit.

And it had been quite an expensive purchase.

He looked away as Shaw rounded up his speech, but he was unable to avoid his gaze, leering down at him with that god awful smile from his ridiculous campaign posters. Erik failed to see their necessity any more, he'd won, it was pure vanity. There was a child crying off in a corner of the room. Erik could understand why.

Chief Rogers and Commissioner Moira were obviously in attendance, along with a few other recognisable faces. He looked around to see if Tony might be in the crowd, particularly after noticing Rogers, but he didn't seem to be in the room. Apparently Shaw's rally was acceptable to chase the Chief around in, but the inauguration was too much. Erik wasn't surprised, Stark had never been particularly fond of Shaw after he'd represented the District against some case or another against Stark Industries. Tony had won, of course, but he was more than capable of holding a grudge.

After Shaw's 'gracious' acceptance speech was over and done with, Erik quickly acquired a flute of the complimentary champagne, making the smallest of talk with a few business associates of Lehnsherr Corporations, and even deigning to talk to Loki Odinson, if only due to the fact his boisterous brother was no where in sight. Erik inquired as to why, out of politeness.

"My brother did not vote for Sebastian Shaw, and refused to be party to a celebration of his success." Loki replied, idly spinning his champagne, but not partaking of it. "He is as good a businessman as our father when he tried, but he fails to see the advantages of forging connections with higher powers if he does not like them personally. I am not so foolish."

Erik watched as Shaw began to make his way towards them, bestowing greetings as he moved.

"I don't know with Shaw. Your brother could be on to something." Erik replied, sipping his drink.

"You say such things, and yet here you are at the inauguration. Some might say you lack conviction. Mr Lehnsherr." Loki laughed.

"And you say you wish to forge ties, but I know for a fact that you did not vote for Shaw along with your brother. I would say that you are doing this solely to anger him." Erik said slyly, looking to Loki out of the corner of his eye.

"Spying on the votes, Mr Lehnsherr? That's considered quite illegal, you know." Loki said, mirth gone.

"Not at all. A lucky guess. The famed camaraderie you and your brother share is only surpassed by the intensity of your feuds. Thor is not here, ergo you have had some sort of disagreement. You are here purely to irritate him." Erik said flatly.

Loki regarded him curiously for a moment before responding. "How very shrewd of you, Mr Lehnsherr." His face broke into a grin. "You appear to have company now though, so I shall leave you to it. It had been a pleasure."

Erik turned to find Shaw approaching him, grin still intact.

"Erik!" He said jovially, a word that Erik never wished to be able to apply to the man again. "How wonderful to see you once more. I had hoped you would attend." He turned to Loki. "And your companion."

"Loki Odinson, Mayor Shaw." The tall man replied, shaking Shaw's outstretched hand "I am afraid I must be going though, I have a meeting to attend unfortunately, but congratulations on the Mayorship."

"Well, that is a shame. I have Erik here to keep me company though, so all is not lost. Thank you for your kind regards, Mr Odinson." Shaw thanked Loki, who quickly departed.

"I should have thought you'd want to keep him around." Erik stated. "The Odinson's are one of the most powerful families in Gotham."

"True enough." Shaw replied, turning to Erik. "But everyone knows that it's the older brother who holds true sway over their father. Loki is cunning enough, but he's never going to inherit the business, poor lad."

Erik hummed, but said nothing in response. As a fellow businessman, it would put him in poor stead to be heard to be gossiping, especially about that particular family. Thor's temper was rather legendary, and Loki was know to have something of a cruel streak to him.

"How are you anyway, Erik?" Shaw asked, taking something from his pocket, the metal signature telling Erik it was a coin. A Deustchemark, oddly. He rolled the coin across his knuckles as he spoke, an action Erik found incredibly distracting. "I really was hoping I could persuade you to publicly support my term in office, I'm going to need all the help I can get if I am to clean up this city, and public support is vital."

Shaw leapt straight into the heart of the issue, and Erik supposed it was at least admirable that he didn't bandy around the point. It didn't mean Erik wanted to hear it however, and he barely suppressed a sigh, wondering when he'd be able to escape and return home.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that, Mayor. You know that Lehnsherr corporations has always been a neutral business, I just want what is best for the city, not people." Erik said, trying to be tactical. Whilst he didn't wish to offer his support to Shaw, it also would not do to be offended the man. Ultimately, he was still the one who had final say on any planning permission Lehnsherr Corporations might be applying for in the next year.

"That is exactly my point, Mr Lehnsherr. The city comes above the individual, and there is one individual in particular whom I believe is a scourge upon this city." Shaw replied, undeterred, and suddenly Erik could see exactly where this was heading.

"This wouldn't be anything to do with your public support of the Batman, would it now?" Erik asked, sipping his champagne, trying to keep his hand steady.

"Precisely so, Mr Lehnsherr." Shaw grinned.

"You know, there are a great many in the city who are thankful for the Batman. He has certainly cleared up the streets of Gotham since he arrived." Erik said, hoping he did not sound too defensive.

The coin slid from side to side faster on Shaw's fingers, grating on Erik for reasons he was unable to give voice too.

"Well, the Batman certainly has the support of the city." Shaw said, then paused. "For now.

Erik frowned.

"But why would that change? Despite the police claims, the Batman is helping the city."

"He killed a man, Mr Lehnsherr. He might act the saviour, but at the end of the day he is just another criminal, albeit a well equipped one." Shaw flipped the coin to his fingers, then back to his knuckles. "I also believe that without the Batman, the Joker would never have existed at all. He was a challenge, something to try to beat and now we have a villain who outstrips anything Gotham has seen before."

"I am of the firm opinion the Batman is doing everything in his power to stop the Joker." Erik replied through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I am sure." Shaw continued nonchalantly, " but the Batman and the Joker are not so different, Mr Lehnsherr, and it will come to prove itself in time, I am sure. You could even say they are two sides of the same coin, even." Shaw grinned, holding his coin up to Erik's line of sight.

Erik rather wanted to shove it somewhere unpleasant.

Shaw ran a finger along the edge of the coin, before quickly returning it to his pocket.

"An agent of chaos, and an agent of order. Sometimes I do wonder which one is which."

"Perhaps you are wrong, Mayor Shaw." Erik sipped his drink calmly, although he was raging internally. " The Batman may come to surprise you yet."

"This is very true. I suppose there is always the chance that I could be proven completely wrong." Shaw said this in the manner one might talk to a young child. The desire to punch the man in the face was almost overwhelming. "I suppose we shall see what the future holds. Fate might have something completely different in mind for us."

"I am not one to believe in fate, I am afraid." Erik replied. "I like to think I control my own future."

Shaw smiled in a way that he likely considered warm, but was in fact one of the most condescending expressions that Erik had ever seen. He was starting to expect it of the man.

"I am sure that you do, Mr Lehnsherr."

They were interrupted by the approach of Chief Rogers and Commissioner MacTaggert, who came up to them very quickly.

"I'm sorry to leave so soon, Mayor Shaw." Rogers explained, a little red in the face. Moira was stood stony-faced behind him. Erik couldn't resist catching her eye, grinning when she glared at him."but we've just had a call. The Joker has just hit the Gotham National Bank. It's locked down, I need everyone I have down there."

"Of course, Chief Rogers, of course!" Shaw exclaimed. "Please go, the cities safety is far more important."

Chief Rogers nodded grimly before he and Moira left the room, taking the few guards that had attended the function with them.

"Despite our differing views on the Batman, I think we can both agree that the Joker needs to be dealt with, don't you agree?" Shaw asked, turning to Erik, only to find that the other man had vanished.

He coughed embarrassedly, a little red in the face before moving away from the now empty corner of the room to continue mingling with his guests. He was quickly swept up in conversation by a young entrepreneur by the name of Hammer, and the vanishing Lehnsherr faded to the back of his mind.

Erik disliked using the Bat suit that he had stashed in a concealed compartment of his car, it was less developed, and though the cowl was the exact same material, it got less treatment than the one on his main suit. Any damage and the Joker was going to turn his brain inside out, but there was no time to go back to the Bat cave, and he wasn't about to pass up this opportunity.

Although using the Bat claw, propelled using his powers, helped him cross the city quickly, it wasn't the same as using the Bat-mobile. The Bat-mobile wasn't available however, and it was going to be rather suspicious if Batman was seen driving Erik Lehnsherr's jaguar across Gotham. Logan was on his was to pick up the vehicle even as Erik moved across the city, he'd probably already made it and was on his way back. Logan was rather efficient when he wanted to be, and Erik needed him at the console in the Bat Cave as quickly as possible.

The communicator sounded in his ear just as he reached the building opposite the National Bank.

"Are you there yet?" Logan asked, sounding rather tinny. There was definitely some interference coming from somewhere.

"Yes, I'm just across from the building. Rogers has got a blockade around the entire building, I'm guessing that the Joker's got hostages, but I can't patch in on any of the police radios. You're coming through poorly as it is, they must have some kind of signal jammer set up in the bank." Erik explained, looking over to the roof of the bank. "I think I can get in from the roof, using the venting systems, but I'm pretty certain I'm going to lose you once I get inside."

"I would guess so, bub. Signal's pretty shitty as it is. I can't get into the police scanners either, so I'm gonna guess they're having as much trouble as us." Logan's reply came through in pieces, but Erik was able to figure it out.

"I'm going in, stay on the line, I'll contact you when I get out of there." Erik used the Bat claw to get over to the building without waiting for a response, the static that started to emit from his ear piece hurting his head as he did so, and he turned the device off as soon as he landed. The entry point into the vents wasn't hard to find, and he pulled the metal grate off using his powers with ease, crouching to crawl into the small space.

Exiting at the nearest convenient point, he dropped down to a balcony overlooking the main lobby of the bank. He could see a small group of thugs surrounding a group of hostages, minus one young woman who was laughing manically in the corner, tears streaming from her terrified eyes as she gasped for breath between her laughter. Her co-workers were watching her in anguish, and Erik assumed she must have stood up to the Joker when he entered.

The thugs stood guarding the door and the hostages looked around themselves nervously, just average hired goons that Erik encountered on a near daily basis.

"How long do you think the Joker's gonna be?" One asked to another, glancing apprehensively at the laughing woman. "She's giving me the creeps."

"How the hell should I know?" the other berated. "Just shut up and stand guard, that's what he's paying us for. Do you wanna end up like that?" He gestured to the woman with the end of his gun, and the other shook his head quickly, standing up a little straighter.

Neither of them saw it coming when Erik dropped down between them, hitting their skulls together with a sickening crack as they slumped to the floor unconscious. He took out the remaining four men in quick succession. They were scared and poorly trained, it didn't take long at all and Erik almost felt sorry for them.

He approached the laughing woman once he was done. He knelt in front of her, wincing as she grasped helplessly at his forearms.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to knock you out. You're going to suffocate if I don't." He said, placing a hand over the one grasping at his arm. She looked scared out of her wits, but to her credit the young woman nodded, and Erik applied a sleeper hold to her shoulder, careful to administer to the correct spot, which was somewhat difficult due to her convulsing body. She passed out in his arms, the laughter ceasing abruptly and he leant her unconscious body against the wall gently, approaching the other hostages, of which there were about seventeen, a mixture of Bank Staff and customers. They were all still on their knees and getting closer, Erik could see their wrists had been bound using nylon cable ties. He spoke to the man nearest to him, an older gentleman who looked up to him gratefully as Erik cut the wire using a small pocket knife.

"Where did the Joker go?" he asked, watching as the man rubbed his sore wrists.

"He went to the main vault, just through there." The old man pointed with one hand and grasped Erik's wrist with the other "Be careful. He's insane."

"I know." Erik replied grimly, handing the old man his knife. "Release the others and get out of here. Chief Rogers and his men are already outside, you'll be safe."

The man nodded. "Thank you, Batman."

Erik nodded in return before turning towards the hall that led main vault. Inappropriate as it may be, the old man's gratefulness was appreciated. The Batman was still wanted after all.

He walked down the steps, making his way to the main vault to confront the Joker.

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Logan found himself spinning on his chair with little to do, unable to contact Erik in order to help, and learning little from the news report that was taking place on the television. The reporter knew just as much as Logan himself, due to the downed communications. It seemed like everyone was on the edges of their seats, just waiting for news from inside the bank.

He found himself checking up on things, for lack of better things to do. Emma was quite happy in Switzerland, they'd discovered. Naturally Erik had been keeping tabs on her anyway, but Emma had the audacity to send them a postcard, requesting that they stick it to the refrigerator.

Erik had set fire to it, which was somewhat melodramatic, but Logan couldn't really blame him.

Raven Xavier had become something of a recluse since her visit to the Lehnsherr mansion, only seeing Hank McCoy from what Logan could tell, and even him only briefly. Logan got the impression that Hank was trying to convince her to let go of Charles, but his disappearance had hit her hard. He sighed as he discovered she'd been prescribed anti-depressants in the last few days, but there was little that could be done about it. He felt sorry for the girl, but she'd have to deal with her grief in her own time.

He leant back in his chair, lighting a cigar, waiting for some kind of contact and staring absently at the ceiling, trying not to worry about what was happening inside of Gotham's National Bank. The Joker was Dangerous, with a capital D and he wasn't sure that Erik was taking the man entirely seriously.

Not that Logan actually cared, with like feelings and shit.

He was startled from his reverie by a familiar sound from the television, the sound of laughter. Laughter he'd heard from over Erik's communicator.

He turned to the television quickly, grabbing the remote to pause and rewind to the beginning of the story, pausing when the young, female reporter who was observing the situation at the Bank appeared on screen once more.

"And this is the same Joker who less than one month ago kidnapped Charles Xavier, Heir to Xavier Industries who had not long celebrated his breakthroughs in Genetic exploration." She reported, the bank visible in the background of the screen.

The channel then cut to a video of Charles Xavier from the celebration at which he and Erik met, a recording of the speech that Erik had been unable to stay and watch, summoned by his duties as the Batman. Xavier was being handed some kind of certificate, just out of ceremony followed by answering questions from the audience that were almost indistinguishable. However, someone in the crowd must have said something amusing, because Xavier's eyes lit up, and he threw his head back and laugh raucously, a hand gripping his podium strongly.

Logan could have sworn he felt his stomach drop into his ass as he rewound the clip, listening to Xavier laugh over and over before changing channel back to the regular news reports, the remote dropping to the floor with a thud once he did so.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Erik approached the main vault cautiously, the Joker's laughter echoing down the hall. There was a distinct smell of smoke, and Erik could see faint wisps of it starting to leak out of the room and into the hall. Bracing himself, he stepped in the doorway to confront the Joker, finding the man alone, and setting fire to a rather substantial amount of Gotham cities citizen's money.

"Joker, stop this now." He growled.

The other man laughed his trademark laugh, turning to face Erik, who finally got a clear view of his face, not that it would have helped had he seen it before, looking at the man now. His face was plastered in white circus make-up, with wide black circles around his eyes and red lipstick akin to a clowns stretching almost to his ears, all crudely applied, giving him a sinister appearance. What really caught Erik's eye though, was the scars. The Joker had a complete Glasgow smile, stretching from ear-to-ear under the bright red make-up, likely recently bestowed upon him, since Erik could see thick black stitches underneath his decoration, thought it did appear to healing. He wore a long purple coat with matching trousers and a green waist coat. There was a Joker card sticking just out of the coat pocket, undoubtedly meant to be left as a calling card once he was done in the Bank.

"Ah!" he cried as he saw Erik. "The Batman! I had so hoped you might turn up. Welcome to the party!"

Erik said nothing, stepping forward and gripping the Joker by the collar, delivering a swift blow to his face, leaving white make-up on his gloves. The Joker continued to laugh and Erik shoved him up against the wall, kicking over the burning stack of money as he went so as to prevent the whole thing going up in flames.

"I'm not in a gaming mood, Joker!" He snarled, slamming the man's head back against the wall. "I want to know where Charles is, and I want to know now!" he shoved the man roughly once more, the others hands coming to grip his wrists, but saying nothing. He simply grinned at Erik, giggling manically, eyes shining with manic glee in the bright light of the vault room.

Bright blue eyes shining in the light of the vault room. Bright blue eyes that Erik had seen before, shining beneath him as the other man had been in the throes of pleasure.

"_Charles?"_ Erik said, incredulously, dropping the Joker and stepping away. The Joker, Charles, straightened, dusting down his coat.

"Oh ho, so we've finally caught on, have we?" He chortled, tilting his head to the side as he smiled at Erik. "I had thought when I said I slit his face open that I was being incredibly obvious, but apparently I give you far too much credit, _Erik." _

"I don't understand. Everything you've done, your lifes work, it's all been to help the city, to help humanity!" Erik exclaimed, taking another step backward. He felt like the world was crumbling around him, and moved back once more when Charles took a step towards him, hands folded neatly behind his back.

"Why?" He spluttered "Why would you do this?"

"Because I am mad? Charles offered "Because I have deep unresolved issues stemming from childhood trauma? Maybe mummy just didn't love me enough? Maybe the morning traffic made me snap? Maybe because humanity needs to realise that everyone is equal? That when you come down to it, everyone is exactly the same, down to every last superficial thought." Charles grew more vehement as he spoke, hands curling into fists, when he suddenly stopped, straightening up and grinning almost amicably once more.

"Or maybe, just because I can."

"This isn't you Charles, you are hurting people! Destroying lives?" Erik protested, even as he moved his hand to his belt, ready to pull a weapon if necessary.

"Oh and you know me do you? Our brief dalliance means that you know everything about me now, does it? I suppose it would be fair, were it true. After all, I know _everything _about you, Erik." Charles leered, and Erik was overwhelmed with thankfulness for his cowl.

"What about Raven?" he tried helplessly, thought he doubted he would get through to Charles now.

"What about Raven indeed?" Charles burst into deep, throaty laughs, and a smoke bomb suddenly went off inside of the vault, blinding Erik. He lost sight of Charles, grasping desperately for anything metallic that he might be wearing, but of course he was cleverer than that.

Erik groaned as something that felt distinctly baseball-bat shaped hit the back of his knees, and he hit the ground with a thud, inhaling sharply as his head was pulled back. He grasped at the cowl desperately, fearful that Charles was trying to remove it, but he was only pulled backwards, a voice hissing into his ear that he recognised to be Charles.

"I do hope that you are going to come along to my next little soiree, Erik." He murmured, lips barely a hairs breadth way from touching the visible skin of Erik's cheek. "It's going to be a blast."

With that, Charles vanished, and by the time Erik managed to stumble back to the main lobby, nearly hacking his lungs up from the acrid stench of the smoke bomb, it was obvious that the other man was long gone.

He was given little chance for respite however, as Chief Rogers and an armed SWAT team burst through the front doors of the bank, having been given the go-ahead by the now freed hostages, only to find the Batman in the middle of the lobby and the Joker no where in sight.

Erik sighed, quickly darting to the side, running up to the balcony as the team opened fire, Chief Rogers in hot pursuit.

The vent was far too small to provide a speedy escape, and so regretfully Erik flung himself through the large stained glass window that he recalled the Gotham Gazette had made a specific point about the expense of when it had been commissioned. He figured damage of public property didn't amount to much on top of murder charges. He ran across the ledge, looking back to see Roger's still following him, though without his team. Using his powers, he jammed Roger's gun long enough to give him time to properly target a building with his grapple, going far higher than the Police Chief was ever going to manage without help. He kept running until he reach a rooftop about a mile away, crouching down as Logan came back into contact.

"Erik!" Logan exclaimed, finally completely clear again. "I just saw the police break into the Bank, what the hell happened in there?"

"It's alright, I got away." Erik panted, looking around him nervously. The police helicopters still seemed to be focused on the bank however. "Roger's gave chase, but I got away, barely. The man is superhuman. If I didn't know for a fact he's not mutant, I'd suspect it."

Logan remained quiet for a moment. "And the Joker?"

"Got away, but he's planning something, he told me as much." Erik said grimly, standing and starting to make his way towards his city apartment.

"I've got some bad news, bub." Logan replied cautiously. "You might wanna be sitting down, or at least not swinging from building-to-building. I was watching some old footage of Xavier, from that ceremony bullshit? I hate to say it, Erik, but..."

"Charles is the Joker. Yes, I know." Erik cut Logan off, not wanting to hear any more.

"He told you?" Logan asked in surprise.

"I figured it out." Erik landed on the balcony to his apartment, slipping inside and quickly divesting himself of the Bat suit, the cowl somewhat reluctantly, but he eventually pulled it from his head, refusing to live in fear. "I'm going to switch to video call, Logan. Hold on one second."

He sat down in front of the laptop he kept in the apartment, starting it up and quickly connecting to the main console in the Bat Cave, Logan's face popping up on screen. It was a testimony to how shaken he was that he didn't mention the cigar between Logan's teeth at all.

"You alright, bub?" Logan asked, expressionless but voice heavy with concern. Erik wiped a hand over his face.

"Not really. I'm trying to understand why, and I just can't." He sighed. "I don't like things I can't understand."

"I don't think anybody is going to be able to figure this one out." Logan offered somewhat helplessly. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Aren't I always? I can deal with my issues later, for now we know that Charles is going to hit somewhere again. From what I can gather, he likes an audience, so I'm going to guess somewhere with lots of people." Erik suggested, leaning back in his chair.

"There's that city party shit going on down at the pier on Friday?" Logan replied, folding his arms.

"It seems likely, but I'm cautious about going for the obvious, especially after the old folk's home incident."

"Did he give you any other kind of clue? A hint or something?" Logan asked.

"Nothing, all he said was 'it's going to be a blast', so all I can really assume is that people are going to get hurt, which is generally how it works with him." Erik leaned forward on his fist, feeling a strong headache forming.

"Sorry to break it to you, bub, but I think this is going to be a 'wait and see' kinda deal." Logan said.

"I know. I'm going to take a shower, and then I'll make my way back to the mansion. Dig up everything you can on Xavier, see if there is anything we missed, and see if his sister is opposed to a visit tomorrow." Erik ordered, standing from his seat and stretching.

"Will do. See you in a bit then." Logan hesitated. "For what it's worth, Erik, I'm sorry."

Erik nodded, and closed the laptop, staring at it for a while.

"Yeah. Me too."


	9. Chapter 9

Considering that Chief Rogers had been firing at him less than twenty-four hours ago, Erik was rather astonished to see the Bat signal shining against the clouds during his patrol that night, and immediately assumed foul play. He also took into consideration that it was somewhat smaller in size than usual, if marginally, and dimmer as well. It was also very, very out of place, almost on the complete other side of town to what it normally would be.

However, as usual curiosity won out over sensibility and Erik found himself pursuing the signal, climbing the building that it was emitting from cautiously, keeping an eye out for any of the police force lying in wait for him.

When he reached the top of the building, what he found was Commissioner MacTaggert crouched low on the ground, a large torch in hand and a cardboard cut-out of his logo over the top of his, both of which she dropped as soon as she realised that he was present.

"Nice improvisation." He said gruffly as she stood to greet him.

"I try." She replied, a small smile on her face.

"So what is it that has you going behind Roger's back, Commissioner?" Erik asked, leaning against the brick wall beside him. "This could cost you your job if anyone found out."

Moira sighed. "I know, but I thought you might be interested in this, even with the fiasco that happened last time."

She pulled a piece of paper from her coat pocket, and Erik was hit with a rather strong feeling of deja vu. He took it from her, his mouth set in a grim line.

"Another artistic masterpiece from our friend?" He asked. Moira shook her head, and he opened the page to reveal a poster advertising the event at the pier, a celebration of the marvellous city of Gotham, exactly like those that had been soaking up water at the warehouse. The Joker had apparently been leaving clues for a while. The only difference with this one was that it had 'HA HA HA' written crudely over the image of the pier in thick, black marker.

"I guess that confirms that then." Erik muttered, mostly to himself.

"You suspected he might hit the pier?" Moira asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.

"He hinted that he's going to doing something, something involving blasts, when I ran into him at the bank" Erik replied, returning the page to Moira. "I don't suppose it's any use asking you to call off the event?"

Moira shook her head. "They're stepping up the guard at the pier, of course, all of our men will be down there come Friday, but they're never going to call it off. Especially not based on my tip-offs from the Batman. If they even find out I've been here, I can look forward to a pretty serious disciplinary."

Erik sighed. "I thought as much. I am going to do what I can, but you're going to have to be prepared for the fallout from this one, Commissioner."

Moira nodded once more. "I understand. I'll do what I can, but that's only so much, I'm afraid. I've lost much of my sway with the higher-ups since Shaw came into the picture."

"Anything you can do is going to of help. Thank you for contacting me at least, I know what it means for you to have done this."

Erik turned to leave, when suddenly Moira's hand was gripping his forearm, lightly, but it was there.

"For what it is worth, Batman, I know that you did not kill Lieutenant Coulson, even if no-one else believes it." She said, voice strong with conviction.

"Thank you, Commissioner, but it doesn't matter any more. We just need to stop the Joker before he does any more harm." Erik replied, but pressed his gloved hand over hers briefly all the same.

"I understand. I'll do what I can, even if that means just keeping our boys off your scent come Friday." Moria stepped back, voice steely.

Erik nodded, before stepping back and dropping over the edge of the building, vanishing from sight.

"You didn't tell the Commissioner about Xavier then?" Logan asked as they pulled up to the large mansion that Raven Xavier had retreated to in her grief. She had agreed to see Erik when he said he had news, though he had the feeling she was hoping for something more positive than what he intended to tell her.

Erik shook his head. "There wouldn't be much point. It's not like he's been living a dual life. He vanished off the face of the Earth, and emerged as the Joker. It won't help stop him any faster, and truthfully, I'd like a few words with him before I hand him over to the authorities." He replied angrily, looking up at the Xavier Mansion.

Logan frowned in concern, but said nothing, and Erik opened the car door.

"Wait here. I don't plan on being long. I don't think Miss Xavier is in the mood for extended company anyway."

He headed up to the house, where he was led to a large sitting room by what appeared to be the sole worker in the home, an older woman who looked rather haggard.

"If you would wait here, Mr Lehnsherr." She croaked. "Miss Xavier will be down to see you shortly."

Erik sat on the uncomfortable sofa for about fifteen minutes, though it felt like a lifetime. The air was incredible still and the only sound to be heard was the ticking of a large grandfather clock that sat out in the lobby.

It was rather unnerving.

Finally, Raven appeared, shuffling down the stairs in a fluffy bathrobe, skin blue and feet bare. Erik stood to greet her, and she gave him a watery smile, teeth startlingly white in contrast to the blue skin.

"Hello, Mr Lehnsherr." She said, shaking his hand before folding her arms and they both sat down, facing each other across the table. Erik took a deep breath. He and Logan had debated how they were going to do this for a good hour or so. Obviously he couldn't tell her that he knew Charles to be the Joker, but he could at least ask about any suspicious behaviour the man might have exhibited, it was customary for these kinds of cases, or so he believed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come on happier business." He began, link his fingers between his spread knees. "But I need to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind?"

Raven sighed, and nodded. "I suppose you don't have any good news for me then? Just like the police. You're all useless" Erik frowned at the insult, but decided to ignore it.

"I'm afraid not, but I might be getting somewhere. I don't suppose that Charles exhibited any strange behaviour before his disappearance did he? Or even before that, did he ever have an peculiar habits, or periods where he might have vanished before?" Erik asked, leaning forward.

Raven scowled at him. "Of course not. Do you really think I would be bothered people if disappearing was something Charles did often? He's been taken by the Joker, Lehnsherr and I want my brother back."

Erik rubbed at his forehead, feeling sorry for the girl.

"He's not been in contact with you at all then? Or Hank perhaps?" Erik tried patiently.

"Do you really think the Joker would let him contact me?" Raven stood, obviously irritated. She ran her hands through her disarrayed hair frustratedly. "I don't know about Hank. We are not currently speaking."

"Really? Why is that?" Erik stood also, stepping closer to the girl, who had become quite fidgety. She turned to him, glaring.

"I don't think that's any of your business, Mr Lehnsherr." She hissed. Erik stepped back again, Raven seemed slightly unhinged. He briefly recalled anger being one of the stages of grief.

"Of course. Just one more question, and I shall leave you in peace, though I am sorry. This might be somewhat upsetting." Erik took a deep breath. "There isn't any possibility Charles was in league with the Joker is there, any notes or information left around that might help us discern this maybe?"

It was a long shot, but if he could get hold of anything that indicated Charles's activities as the Joker with an address on it, he might be able to prevent anything happening at the pier on Friday at all.

It was apparently the wrong thing to say though.

Raven froze in place, staring at Erik with her golden eyes in a manner most disturbing.

"Get out of my house." She stated, hands clenched to fists at her side.

"Please, Raven..."

"Get out!" The girl screamed at him, and Erik could see that she was reaching for a lamp. He dove to the side, rolling away from the shattering china, and made a beeline for the door, Raven still screaming at him.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you." He said quickly, before ducking out of the door, running as fast as he could back to Logan and the waiting car.

"She didn't take it so well, I assume?" Logan asked as he pulled away, glancing at a chip of china on Erik's shoulder.

"Not at all." Erik replied, looking at the mansion in the wing mirror as they drove away.

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Erik spent the next few days in as much normality as he could, sticking to his regular patrols. He'd noticed the police presence around him whilst he patrolled had died down a lot from what it had been since Chief Rogers had declared his manhunt, and he strongly suspected the Commissioner MacTaggert had something to do with it. He had to admit he was grateful. He had enough to be concerned with without having to flee from the law.

Friday approached far too quickly for Erik's liking, and he slept poorly Thursday night, not sleeping until four-thirty AM, only to awake again two hours later.

Nerves got the better of him, and he donned his suit and cowl straight after his shower, waiting down in the kitchen for Logan to appear, who snorted when he saw Batman sat eating toast at the counter.

"Didn't I teach you any manners? No capes at the breakfast table, bub. People will think you were born in a barn." He mocked, pouring himself a cup of lukewarm coffee, which he heaped four sugar cubes into and downed with a grimace.

"I've got to be prepared. The pier event starts at five PM, and I intend to be there for the opening ceremony. We don't know when Charles plans to make his appearance." Erik said, buttering himself another two slices of toast.

Only Logan knew that Erik ate more when he was stressed. It wasn't something most expected of the lean man, and he was rarely so wound up that he actually indulged, so wisely, Logan just let him get on with it.

"That might be so, but I get the feeling he's gonna want a dark sky for his fireworks. He likes to put on a show, so I would go expecting anything until around seven at least, bub." Logan replied, taking a seat.

"I can't afford to take that risk. I'm going down there all day, just going to go over and see Tony first, see if he's got anything new that might help me out and see if anything could use a touch up." Erik stood, nodded to Logan and making his way to the Bat cave.

"I'm going to want you on the console the whole time, so I suggest you pack a lunch box." he said before he left the room.

Logan put the kettle to boil, pulling out a few Thermos flasks from the cupboard to fill with coffee. He was sure that he was going to need them.

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" I've re-equipped your belt completely. You know, when things get empty it's usually a sign that they need refilling. Just you know, in case you weren't aware." Tony ticked things off on his fingers as he spoke. It was rare that Erik entered his workshop in full Batman regalia, but apparently it didn't stop him from berating the man any more than usual. "I've replaced the metal wiring in the Bat claw, you know you have a mutation that controls metal right? You should be able to pick up on these things, I've also thrown in some smoke pellets, good for a hasty escape, oh thank you Tony, you're so wonderful! Yes, yes I know, and I've hammered some dents out of both the Bat claw and your chest piece, because really Erik, what the hell do you do to them? I put so much care and attention into these things and you just go and smash them up like they're nothing. You know, if you weren't paying for all of it, I might be very offended."

"I don't pay you to snark at me, Tony." Erik said, fixing his cape back into place following the fixed chest piece.

"It comes free with the package." Tony smirked, placing the Bat claw down near Erik, who picked it up and placed it back onto his utility belt. "So, you think you're going to get him this time."

Erik nodded. "He's got away from me three times now, I don't intend for there to be a forth."

He walked towards the door. "Thank you, Tony."

"Any time, Erik." Tony hesitated. "Good luck. Don't go dying or something else completely stupid."

Erik grinned.

"Now Tony, does that sound like something I would do?"

Erik made his way to the pier following his visit with Tony, seating himself at the top of a building that was a little away from the gathering crowd, overlooking the plaza and the wooden pier. His binoculars provided him with an excellent view of everything, and it didn't take long to pick out Commissioner MacTaggert within the crowd on the plaza, wearing a kevlar vest and her gun firmly in hand, apparently talking on a headset. He didn't bother to patch in yet, it was likely just instructions. Logan could oversee that.

She had been correct though. Rogers had really stepped up the security as opposed to what would usually take place at such an event. Rogers himself was patrolling the pier, along with some of his best men. Erik was able to pick out Major Romanov in the forces, red hair distinct among the rabble, apparently her disciplinary action had been suspended in their time of need.

"You in place, bub?" Logan came though on the communicator.

"Got a good view of the pier, we're about an hour in now, sun's starting to set. Have you heard anything from around town?" Erik asked, zooming in on the Commissioner, who was ordering a group of men down the pier to accompany Rogers. Even from such a distance, she seemed to be on edge.

Erik wasn't so relaxed himself.

"I'd get ready, I don't think...wait a minute." Logan vanished from the line, and Erik frowned. When he didn't return for some moments, Erik began to worry.

"Logan? Logan, are you there?" he tapped at the communicator, which remained in silence for another five minutes.

"Erik?" Logan's voice came back on line, distinct shuffling could be heard as Logan returned to his seat.

"What was that?" Erik scolded "I need you focused, Logan!"

"Yeah, yeah I know. I had a house guest." another voice came over the line that Erik instantly recognised.

"Hello, Mr Lehnsherr?" Hank's voice sounded nervously over the communicator.

"Logan. You have ten seconds to tell me what the hell McCoy is doing in the base." Erik growled.

"He figured it out, knew who you were, bub and said he has something important you might want to know." Logan supplied

"It was just a process of elimination, you see, Mr Lehnsherr, I just correlated the times in which the Batman..." Hank started to babble, and Erik heard a sound that he knew to be Logan hitting him upside the head, which he knew well from prior experience.

"Yes, of course it's not the time, sorry. Anyway, I wanted to warn you that the prototype for the Cerebra was stolen, less than an hour ago. I came straight to you, because I didn't wish to risk a call being intercepted. I'm not sure if it's even important, or going to be of use to you, but I thought I should let you know since Charles was the only other person with access codes to that lab." Hank explained quickly, stumbling a little over his words.

"I see. Is there anyway that it could be activated, something you might have overlooked?" Erik asked. He wasn't sure how the machine could come into this, but it was certainly dangerous, and Charles having his hands on it could only lead to trouble, especially if he knew how to make it work.

"Not that I could think of, but I haven't been putting much of my energies into it following Charles's disappearance, so you never know." Hank stammered.

"I see. I'll bear that in mind then. Thank you, Hank." Erik replied.

"Mr Lehnsherr?" Hank asked, nervously.

"Yes?"

"It's Charles, isn't it? He's been the Joker all along." Hank's tone changed completely, just as it had back at the facility. More confident, sure of himself.

"I'm afraid so." Erik paused. "You're very clever, aren't you, Hank?"

"It was simply the most logical explanation." Hank replied simply.

There was a sudden clamour from below, and the distinct laughter of the Joker echoed over the plaza. Logan's voice reappeared on the communicator.

"Looks like you're up, bub." he said, grimly.

"It seems so." Erik straightened, looking out.

The Joker was stood at one of the uppermost levels of a building in progress, leaning out over the crowd with a megaphone in his hand. The building was just out of range of the amount of cable Erik had within his Bat Claw.

Of course it was.

"People of Gotham City!" The Joker crowed, obviously revealing in the crowd's attention. " Tonight is a night of jubilation, a celebration of our most glorious city."

He laughed long and hard.

"Let the fireworks begin!"

The city shook as four explosions rocked the city, fire billowing up from each location. Erik swore as he moved to get down from the building as quickly as possible. The people below were panicking, he could see that some were attempting to run, but it appeared that Charles had hired more armed thugs. It wouldn't be long before it turned into a gun-war between them and the police. Police who desperately needed to be in other areas right around now.

"Logan!" He shouted into the communicator as he swung down the ground, fighting his way through the crowds to try and get close enough to climb the building where Charles was stood. "What the hell happened?"

Logan sounded just as shaken as he was, and Erik could hear Hank murmuring in the background.

"Four places all gone up at once. Our friend Charles has been very busy. We've got the Town Hall, one of Odin's and Son's main buildings, the Police Station and Xaviers facility, all blown to smithereens. Emergency services are having a hell of a time getting to all four at once, and obviously nearly all of the damn police are down there with you." Logan explained quickly.

"I should have been at the Xavier Facility..." he could hear Hank's shocked voice just barely behind Logan. He felt sorry for the lad, but it was not the time to be comforting. Erik knocked out a henchman that came directly at him, using the butt of his own gun to crack his head.

"I'm almost near enough to get into the building. It's a mess down here, he's got thugs all around and the crowds going mad." Erik said, pushing his way through the panicking people.

"Just as he likes it then." Logan replied.

Erik heard a cry, and turned to see Chief Rogers on the floor, about to have his brains blown out courtesy of a muscled lout. He turned and ran as quickly as he could, diving at the man and taking him to the floor, knocking him out cold with a swift blow to the cranium. He stood quickly, offering a hand to Rogers, who hesitated for the merest moment before taking it.

"Rogers, I.." Erik started, but Roger's held up a hand, before gripping Erik's arm tightly.

"Just go, we can handle this. Just...stop him, Batman."

Erik nodded, looking up to the building that was now in range. Pulling the Bat claw from his belt, he targeted the highest level he would be able to reach, using his powers to pull him in as fast as he could. His communicator crackled as he moved into the scaffolding, indicating Charles was using the same sort of signal jammer he'd gotten hold of at the National Bank. He appeared to have moved to the very top of the building, but now Erik was only around four below him, and he began to move quickly, taking the stairs two at a time, completely unaware he was being followed.

The instant he could feel the metal workings of Cerebra, he pulled it apart, shattering what was likely millions of dollars worth of equipment, and something Charles was probably not going to be very happy about at all. He'd deal with that when he reached the top of the building.

He finally stepped out on to the roof. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, an ambush maybe, or an all-out attack to remove his cowl perhaps. Simply finding Charles standing there, make-up intact and a large grin on his face as he stood among the parts of his machine was not one of them.

"Welcome to the part, Erik." he said, tilting his head as Erik circled him.

"What are you playing at, Charles?" Erik growled. "What have these people done to you, done to deserve all of this?"

"This is all so superficial, is it not?" Charles replied, waving his hand over what was left of the festival. "Why do we insist on celebrating our own mediocrity? I was simply trying to liven things up a bit, that's all! Think of it as me spiking the punch at a party."

"This is not the same!" Erik shouted "People have died, people that did nothing to warrant death!"

"Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life." Charles replied, then giggled to himself "Oh I am sorry, I appear to be channelling Tolkien. Well, no matter, it holds true all the same. Everyone dies, _Batman, _sooner or later."

"And you guaranteed that it was sooner. Our powers were never meant for this." Erik said, not taking his eyes off of Charles, who had begun to pace the roof.

"Have I ever used my powers to kill? I think you will find I have not. You should stop accusing me of such things, Erik. It's very rude." Charles waved a hand. "But I'll forgive you this time. I will have you know I would never waste my powers in such a way though. There is so much fun that can be had with the mind, why on Earth would I let that go?" He cackled after he spoke, and Erik winced at the horrible sound.

"You're sick, Charles." Erik tried to reason. "You're very sick and you need help. If you come with me now, we can..."

"Now why on Earth would I want to do that when I am having so much fun?" Charles stopped in his pacing near the edge of the building, turning to face Erik. "It's so much more fun without those silly inhibitions. Isn't it, my dear?"

Charles turned to the opening that led out to the roof, not talking to Erik any longer. Erik followed his gaze to see Raven stood on the roof with them, blue-skinned and naked as the day she was born, emitting little giggles now and then.

"It's so much fun, batty!" she laughed, before stopping, clutching at her head with a pained look on her face. "Charles, please, no more. It hurts, please..."

Charles moved his fingers to his forehead, and Raven immediately straightened, stopping her pleas and giggling once more, fingers pressed to her lips like a child.

"What the hell have you done to her?" Erik gaped, watching the girl. She twitched once, her giggles stopping again, and she moved her hand to her head again, smiling amicably.

"Nothing she didn't ask for, don't you worry."

Erik darted forward, gripping Charles by the arms. Charles did not struggle, just grabbed Erik's biceps in return and Erik could feel him trying to dig his nails into his arms, though the armour made it a useless endeavour.

"Look at what you've done!" He demanded, using one hand to gesture at the four points of smoke billowing above the city. "What you've done to her!" and again to Raven, who was swaying slightly.

"You can stop this! We can get you help, Charles, just end this now!"

Charles giggled, leaning forward into Erik's face.

"But we both know you don't mean that Erik." He whispered. "These past two months are the most alive you have felt in _years_. You cleaned up Gotham of it's filth and you have nothing left to do except patrol, night after night after night."

He threw his head back, chortling.

"And then along came ME. Look at them, they don't need you, Erik, not any more. I'm the only reason you even have a purpose, and even then, look where that led you. You were so entrenched in being a hero, you ended up becoming a villain." Charles sneered. "Now isn't that poetic?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Erik could see Raven slowly approaching them, one hand outstretched. Charles gripped his arms more tightly, pulling himself closer.

"You're not going to take me in, Erik. You need me" He hissed. "No one has ever challenged you like I have, and no one ever will."

He briefly turned to Raven, a broken smile still on her face before turning back to Charles in his arms. Erik stared into those blue eyes, the only thing that reminded him that it was still Charles, who he was almost certain he had loved, behind the make-up and the scars.

"You're right."

With that, Erik pulled Charles to him, tipping them both over the edge of the building and hurtling down to the sea and rocks below, Raven's anguished cry just barely distinguishable over the rushing wind in his ears.


	10. Epilogue

Three months later

Logan quickly switched the television set off as they insisted on replaying the footage that had been recorded of the Batman and the Joker falling from the top of the building. Three months later, and it was still all he could ever see whenever he turned on a television or computer.

He was sick of the sight of his best friend falling to his death.

Logan sighed, standing from the sofa on which he had been sat, sparing a brief glance for the bookcase that concealed the entrance to the Bat cave, which he had not entered since that fateful night three months ago.

The fallout from the Pier celebration had been immense. The casualties of the Joker's attacks on the four notable buildings around Gotham had been high, and included some particularly high profile names, including Mayor Sebastian Shaw himself, who was actually still hospitalised. An official statement had been released, but there was nothing to be heard from the man himself. It was rumoured his injuries were very permanent, but no one knew for certain.

There were two high profile deaths that had been given the most news coverage, the first being that of Thor Odinson, who had been conducting some late office work in the subsidiary building that had been hit. A body had not been recovered, but he had not emerged among the survivors either, and had been proclaimed among the dead a fortnight later, after the search for a body had finally been dropped. Thor's younger brother had taken the news very poorly, and vanished not long after the fact.

There had been much clamour about the fact he had taken none of his possessions with him, and rumour had it he had left a small black card with a green question mark upon it in his rooms, though Odin himself had done much to cover any kind of slander there might be about his family, as would be expected of such a powerful figure.

The other name of mention who had been taken down in the Joker's attack was, of course, Erik Lehnsherr, who had been present at the Xavier Facility in his relentless bid to help the family. Logan had put out a statement as quickly as he was able, claiming that the body had been found and returned to the mansion for a private funeral, and any who wished to leave their respects may do so outside of the mansion gates. It had hurt him beyond measure to do so, but it had always been in their agreement that should anything happen to Erik during his course as the Batman, Logan would do everything in his power to make sure that his identity remained a secret.

Hank had been sworn to secrecy, and Logan trusted him to keep to his word. He'd offered the young man a position within Lehnsherr corporations, not long after the incident had occurred, since he was obviously out of a job with the destruction of the Xavier facility, and Tony Stark had taken something of a liking to him when they attended the small memorial Logan held for Erik, the three of them the only ones present in Gotham at the time who knew of both sides of Erik's life. Hank had turned down Stark's offer though, claiming to have a personal project he wished to make headway on. Logan had since heard it was some kind of cure for Raven Xavier's ailing mind, although it was not going as well as the young Doctor McCoy might have hoped apparently.

Not that it would have been much use anyway, considering that Raven Xavier had disappeared entirely sometime in-between the time Erik and Logan had gone to see her and the Pier event. No-one knew for certain what had taken place on top of the building that night for sure. There were rumours flying about everywhere, some swore that the Joker pushed Batman, others said the Joker jumped and dragged Batman with him, some were adamant they saw Raven Xavier follow the Batman up the building, one even claimed they'd seen Loki and a muscled man with a resemblance to Thor, wearing a strange breathing apparatus exploring the area following the incident, and others were certain they saw the Batman and the Joker crawl out of the sea hours later, only to disappear into the night. It was all hearsay, and Logan didn't believe a word of it.

The only good thing that Logan could see that had come out of that dreadful night was that Chief Rogers had released a statement completely retracting all allegations against the Batman, and a posthumous commendation for services rendered to the city.

Logan was sure that Shaw was going to have something to say about that once he was released from the infirmary.

Logan sighed, and headed out into the hallway, towards the phone by the front door.

He had an important call to make.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - – - - - - - - - - - - – - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - – - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Alex was certain someone was going to pinch him and he'd wake up back in the less crappy bedsit he and Scott had moved into following his gift from the Batman.

He placed the one suitcase they had between them, that mostly contained the money he'd been given, holding Scott's little hand in his own tightly as they looked around the large entrance hall of Lehnsherr Mansion.

Scott began to jump up and down in excitement as a large man with a cigar hanging out of his mouth approached them, hand outstretched.

"Alex!" Scotty said, pulling at Alex's hand "That's the man. Batman's friend who gave us the money."

Alex stared at the man in shock. The man simply grinned back, holding a meaty hand out to them both.

"Name's Logan. Welcome to the Lehnsherr Mansion." he said. "This is going to be your new home from now on."

Scott made a loud cooing sound, before ripping away from Alex and tearing down the halls, arms outstretched and making aeroplane noises.

"Wait, what? Hold up, man." Alex said, waving his own arms in the air, though less erratically than his brother. "This is a hell of a lot to dump on a guy. So, let me get it straight. Erik Lehnsherr was actually the god-dammed Batman, and he's just decided to leave his entire fortune and home to me because I helped him out one time?" Alex asked incredulously.

"That's about it, bub. Knew you were a smart one." Logan smirked down at him. Alex frowned up at him.

"What's the catch?" he asked. "There's always a catch."

"Gotham needs a Batman." Logan replied, folding his arms.

Alex gaped at the other man for some time.

"What? Dude, no. Do I look like Batman material to you?" He finally said, after a rather extended silence.

"Erik thought so." Logan said simply. Alex ran his hands through his hair.

"But I don't know the first thing about, like, real fighting!" He protested. "I can't always get my pocket knife to unfold, for Christ's sake!"

"That's where I come in. I'll teach to you everything Erik knew. By the time I'm done with you, you'll be a new man." Logan said, beckoning Alex to walk into the mansion, and catching Scott and flinging him over his shoulder when the little boy ran past once more.

"Wow, this is high." Scott said in awe, waving at Alex from over Logan's shoulder. Alex waved back absently.

Logan led the way into a rather ornate sitting room, hesitating only briefly before pressing three seemingly random keys on the grand piano that caused a bookcase to swing away, revealing a staircase.

Scott turned in the man's arms, mouth wide.

"That is so cool." He murmured. Logan led the way into the dark cave, and it briefly occurred to Alex that he was following a man he barely knew, who was holding his baby brother, down into a dark alleyway willingly.

He supposed if anything did happen, it wasn't like he'd done much to prevent it.

The alleyway opened out in a large cave, which held a large computer console, the Bat Mobile, the Bat Bike and numerous amounts of gear hooked onto various places on the walls, and in the centre of it all, the Bat suit.

Alex walked forward, taking it all in.

"You weren't shitting me, were you?" He murmured, more to himself than Logan, who heard it anyway as he deposited Scott on the floor, who was off like a rocket once more.

"I shit you not." Logan dead panned. He flicked a switch and the multitude of screens that made up the computer console flickered on. There were many different things that Alex didn't understand, one that looked like a heart rate monitor, and a few that were showing Gotham's various news channels, one of which was showing footage of a woman in a strait-jacket being placed into a van, who Alex recognised vaguely as some scientist who had completely lost it after her laboratory had been destroyed along with the Xavier Facility. Something to do with plants, or bugs or some shit.

Alex looked to Logan.

"So, Lehnsherr really wanted me to take the wheel, or whatever?" He asked, still perplexed.

"Don't worry, bub. I'm still as shocked as you are." Logan replied "But he saw something in you, and I serve the family, no matter what. So if you want the position, it's yours. I'll teach you all the tricks of the trade and your brother there gets a nice big house to trash."

Alex frowned. "And if I don't want it?"

"Then you can head off, no hard feelings and a substantial amount of money Erik designated were that to be the case." Logan smirked at him. "And a promise of a thorough ass-kicking should you ever reveal anything that you've learnt hear today."

"What do you think?" Alex looked around the room as he spoke. He'd always admired the Batman, sure, but to be him...

"Personally? I'd rather forget the Batman ever existed, and get the fuck out of here forever. But we can't always get what we want, and objectively, this is a huge chance for you. You get to change your ways, and you get to help the city. No-one can ever know that you do it, of course." Logan shrugged, "But sometimes, that's just how it goes."

"And there have been reports that the Mayor has suffered considerable damage to almost fifty percent of his bod...This just in!" The news reporter blared excitedly from the screen behind them, and the two men both turned to observe the screen. "There has been activity down at the the ruins of the Town Hall, we are switching feeds right now, stay tuned!" The screen flickered over to the rubble that was the remains of the Town Hall, a small yellow line flashing up as it did so that said 'White Queen returns: Strike on Gotham Jewellers. More at four PM!' and another woman flashed onto screen.

"There is quite a fuss down here, folks, as you can see." She gestured out at the crowd gathered in front of the building. "No-one saw the perpetrator, but already claims of the Joker's return are flying around the crowds."

With that, the camera zoomed out to reveal the whole remains of the building, upon which the words 'HA HA HA' had been painted in red paint, still visibly dripping, so they'd not been done long at all.

Alex could see Logan's hands clench into fists next to him. The reporter appeared once more.

"Is the Joker back? Is it a copycat? Local surveillance claims a Joker card has been found at the scene, though this one has a blue 'H' painted upon it. Is this a brand new villain we see emerging? Some are already referring to this new threat as the Harlequin. Is Gotham ever going to be truly safe? Stay tuned as we learn more on this shocking new development. This is Gwen St..."

Logan muted the news programme, not looking at Alex.

"It's up to you, kid, but right now I really want you to say yes." The other man said through gritted teeth.

"This new thing, whether its the Joker or this Harlequin, or whatever, it's something to do with how Batman died isn't it?" Alex asked, watching the muted screen as they showed the vandalised ruins once more.

It took only a moment for him to make his decision.

"I'm in."


End file.
